


Bouquets for Days

by FiccinDylan



Category: Sterek - Fandom, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Deputy Stiles Stilinski, Farce, Florist Derek Hale, Inspired by Art, Miscommunication, Pic Fic, Sterek Reverse Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 13:47:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15292845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiccinDylan/pseuds/FiccinDylan
Summary: Deputy Stiles Stilinski's boss is ruining his life.  Instead of learning how to become a cop, Stiles spends his days taking his boss on inane errands on the off chance she'll come into contact with a jilted lover.  Unfortunately the chances of this happening aren't as off as Stiles would like and he's got to find a way to curb the negative effects of his boss's wiles.He goes looking for a florist to help him put a plan in motion, and may just find the love of his life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Art for Bouquets for Days by FiccinDylan and Tied with a Red Ribbon by samanthahirr](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15296400) by [gremlins-came-and-got-me (Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark/pseuds/gremlins-came-and-got-me). 



> Welcome to the Sterek Reversebang, y'all!
> 
> Check out [1989dreamers amazing art post here!](http://1989dreamer.tumblr.com/post/175899450740/my-first-art-piece-for-sterekreversebang-2018-it)

**

* * *

* * *

 

“Bouquets for Days, this is Derek speaking, how may I help you?” The voice on the other end of the line was light and cheery and made something in Stiles’ soul twist a little bit at the thought of what he had to do. Stiles sighs a sigh of deep resignation. Or rather the kind of sigh you sigh when your boss is a hellion in heels, determined to leave broken hearts all up and down Main St in their entirely too small town.

“Hey Derek, it’s me again.”

“Hey _Me_ , gosh you sound a lot like this guy who calls in way too much. His name is Stiles.” Stiles can hear Derek’s smirk on the phone and it’s the only thing that allows him to see a bit of blue in the grey cloudy skies that were his life. It’s appropriate then, that Stiles hates what he’s about to do, but he loves- well... uhh, _likes a whole lot_ … -this part of it! The getting-to-talk-to-Derek part, which is nice and whom he _likes_ a whole lot!

He sighs again, “Ha ha, you know I’m just a lowly servant of the people, Derek! Gotta keep the spirits up in the little town of Beacon Hills. Besides, is it considered calling too much when you know you’ll be getting the satisfaction of arranging a tasteful yet modestly priced bouquet for me?”

“Modestly priced, Stiles?” Derek says cheekily while grabbing a notebook he’s aptly named _Styles for Stiles_. He hears the young man laugh on the other end of the line.

“Yes, that was my thinly veiled attempt at begging for a discount. I’m living on a deputy’s salary, Der, I need all the help I can get!”

Derek smiles, both at Stiles’ obvious begging and the nickname. Stiles first called Derek for flowers about six months prior and he’s called in at least once a week (and oddly twice a week during February) ever since. He’d always order a lovely bouquet, and then drive a town over to Sparks Falls for pick up. He never told Derek what they were for, and always asked for the card to be left blank, and while Derek was curious, overall he figured it wasn’t his business anyway. He was proud of how much professional integrity he had with his customers. Derek tries not to judge so he tries not to pry. He doesn’t know why Stiles gets the flowers or who he gives them to, he’s just sure that whomever it is… say a girlfriend or boyfriend… must be really lucky to have such a thoughtful lover. Derek sighs, he’s been doing a lot of that lately.

“Stiles, I’m happy to give you discounts. With as much as you buy, I was able to make some upgrades to the greenhouses.”

“Shit, has it been that much!?” Stiles thinks about how much he’s shelled out in the last few months on these things. He actually made _Flowers for Laura_ a line item in his weekly budget. What the hell was wrong with him?

“You’ve actually paid most of my taxes for the year.” Derek says absently, sketching out a couple of arrangements from some older flowers in his sketch pad.

“Wait, _what_?!” Stiles can’t believe he’s spent anywhere near that much, but then he thinks about how little is in his savings account thanks to Captain Hell.

“Stilinski, come see me in Marin’s office, _now_!” Stiles groans as he hears the woman in question calling for him.

“Sorry, Derek, duty calls. Please put together two small… _very small_ and inexpensive yet _tasteful_ bouquets for me and I’ll come by tonight to pick them up.”

“Sure, Stiles. But don’t you work a double? And the shop is kinda far, I can just schedule delivery to your partner, I’ll even fill out the card for-”

“Partner? Why the hell would I give Boyd flowers?” Stiles says looking over at Boyd who is flirting with the sandwich shop girl again. Boyd was a sweet guy and Stiles actually really liked having him as a partner. He was one of the few officers that didn’t give him shit for being a lowly deputy, “Actually, he might like that… but maybe a sunflower? I think he’s still trying to get in good with the delivery girl and I don’t want to give off any wrong signals.”

“I meant your romantic partner, Stiles.” Derek clarifies with a light eyeroll that he knows Stiles can’t see, but he’s sure he can feel, “I assume that’s who these are for?” And sure, he’s all about professional integrity, but Derek was curious, _dammit_. Not for any reason in particular though. None that he would cop to.

“Oh, I don’t- that’s not what these are-” Stiles babbles as he rubs his chest absently as he hears Laura tapping her foot across the room. He feels so attacked.

“Stilinski, _now_!” Laura calls out again and when Stiles looks he can see Lieutenant Marin Morrell motioning for him to come over. The sooner they can get this meeting done, the sooner she’ll get her office back. Stiles grumbles and then turns back to the phone.

“Sorry, Derek. Gotta go for real. Just do like usual and I’ll call you back to confirm. Bye!” Stiles hangs up and runs to Marin’s office. He walks in and sees Captain Laura Hale sitting behind the desk in an all white power suit and red bottomed skyscraper heels perched on Marin’s desk. She motions to the chair in front of her.

“Sit down, Stiles. We have some catching up to do.”

 

**

 

Derek bundles together some purple Peruvian lilies and mini carnations and accents them with bright, dewy Yoko Ono button poms. It’s a good _friendly_ arrangement that’s sure to brighten up the day of whomever Stiles gives them to. It’s not exactly cost-effective, but Derek throws in a vase of Cymbidium orchids on the house since maybe Stiles will want something to brighten his own home.

He chooses the green so if he does end up keeping the lilies, it will all be complimentary without being too matchy-matchy.

“Bro, you need to get _laid_.”

Derek looks up, wondering briefly if the gods were actually talking to him. But the snorted grunt behind him is a harsh reminder that the gods have probably not been paying a lot of attention to Derek, because why would they be so cruel as to lasso him with his two terrible sisters?

‘ _You’ve got some ‘splaining to do.’_ Derek hisses under his breath to the sky before turning and regarding his little sister.

“Cora.”

“I heard you singing to a bouquet of sadness and wasted libido, Derek. When was the last time you went on a date?” She stands in her usual resoluteness; a 5’7” slender package made grandiose by an exorbitant amount of unearned bravado. She’s four years younger and used to kick Derek’s ass when they were kids. If held at gunpoint he’d confess that she impressed him, but most times he just wanted to put her in a choke hold. You know, sibling shit.

“They’re purple Peruvian lilies, Cora.” Derek explains, bitchily popping every ‘ _p_ ’, “They’re not-”

“-With Yoko Ono poms and a Cymbidium Orchid chaser, but you know what you should do? Give him a double Phalaenopsis so he can jizz over how skilled you are when caring for difficult buds!” she recites drolly with her hands on her hips and the face full of aggressive annoyance.

Derek frowns at her. He would say something, but he knows he’ll never get the chance until she’s fini-

“I know about blooms, you dick! Dad taught _all_ of us! The difference is that instead of hiding from the world in a greenhouse where your boyfriends are made mostly out of pistils and stamens, I’m out there meeting people and getting laid on a bed of rose petals and living my damned life! C’mon Derek!”

Derek hated to say Cora was right, but she was certainly telling the truth. She’s been dating Lydia Martin who owned a popular vegan friendly sandwich shop in Beacon Hills. It’s been going for the past few months and it was starting to get serious, to the point where Cora was thinking about moving to Beacon Hills to live with their oldest sister and start working at the police station. Derek wonders briefly if she’d ever see Stiles, but he knows the PD and Sheriff’s departments run separately or something. Laura doesn’t even office in the Sheriff’s so he doubts they’ve ever seen each other. Which, considering how much of a bitch she is, probably bodes better for Derek’s prospects in the long run. Not that he has prospects, professional integrity-haver that he is.

So yeah, Derek could see Cora was out there living her best life, while he chose to carry on one of the family businesses, but she was wrong about him being sad and lonely. Derek preferred being alone and didn’t mind spending a lot of time in the shop. It smelled great and he could see the fruits of his hard work. It’s not the same sort of faux accomplishment one gets from riding a dick, though Derek admits, it would scratch a particular itch. One that didn’t start itching until Stiles walked through his door the first time.

The deputy had called him, sounding almost nervous on the phone. It sounded hollow, like maybe Stiles was huddled into a corner to make the call.

Derek was near the phone so he answered it on the first ring,

‘ _Bouquets for Days, this is Derek speaking. How can I make your day?’_ Most of Derek’s business was by referral and he was usually hired out for large events so he didn’t get a lot of direct calls. He remembered it was a beautiful day complete with singing birds and the shining sun.

_‘Uhh… hi!’_ the voice said nervously on the other end, _‘Well, answering the phone is a good start, so thanks for that? I guess? I’m sorry, that was dumb-’_

_‘Not dumb at all, sir. It’s okay. Tell me how I can help you today.’_ Derek wasn’t normally so patient, but something about this customer intrigued him. He heard a lot of bustle in the background and wondered if the caller was under his desk?

_‘Sure umm… well, my name is Stiles-’_

_‘Hi, Stiles!’_

_‘Oh! Hi! Wow, you’re friendly.’_ the voice said back, a little more sure of itself, _‘Thanks for that.’_

Derek frowned a little, _‘You’re not used to people being friendly?’_

_‘Well usually, sure, but I’m a deputy and a new recruit which means it’s in the handbook that I get treated like shit as a rite of passage. And then on top of that my boss’s boss’s boss has decided to make me their pet project and they’re a fucking monster and so yeah, there’s been a shortage of niceness in Beacon Hills.’_

_‘So that’s why you’re calling a flower shop in Sparks Falls?’_ Derek knows they are the first flower shop that comes up for the twin cities of Beacon Hills and Sparks Falls, it’s one of the reasons he chose the name.

‘ _Well, it was billed as a budget friendly floral boutique. I saw some of your arrangements on Instagram and thought I’d give a call. You see, I’ve kind of been thrown into a weird situation and I need two small bouquets of flowers.’_

_‘Do you wanna tell me about it? I’d be happy to make some recommendations for Beacon’s finest.’_

_‘Uhh, I don’t really have a lot of time now, but just something that says ‘_ You’re Special’ _and I’ll fill in the rest when I pick them up.’_

_‘Okay, do you wanna leave your credit card now?’_

_“Oh, yeah! And if I could come around 4pm?’_

_‘That’s perfect, we’re open until 6.’_

Derek took the deputy’s information and made two small bouquets from yellow spray roses and Gerbera daisies along with some purple iris. Stiles was thrilled when he arrived later that day.

In fact, his smile was the first thing Derek saw when the young man walked in the door.

Immediately Stiles came in -still in uniform- and inhaled deeply. His eyes caught the two bouquets instantly and seemed to glimmer in the late afternoon sun that filtered into the shop. Stiles then looked at Derek and waved, walking towards him with his hand extended.

He did it with that natural confidence cops had. Not in an overbearing insinuating type of way, but more friendly and ‘here to serve’. Derek liked him instantly.

“Hi, you must be Derek. I’m Stiles, I’m a deputy for the BHSD.” Stiles says, his large hand enveloping Derek’s surely. Derek was a little bit taller than the deputy, but Stiles was a sure and solid presence with broad shoulders and a tapered waist. Not that Derek noticed. Or didn’t notice, there was nothing wrong with noticing, he couldn’t help his eyes!

“Uhh…” is all Derek said as he shook Stiles’ hand stupidly. Thankfully Stiles didn't seem to notice. He just shook back and giggled along with Derek. Oh gods, Derek was _giggling_. He cleared his throat and indicated back towards the bouquets. “As you probably guessed, those are for you.”

Derek noticed as Stiles took a minute to look down the entirety of Derek’s pointed arm. From his rounded shoulder to his frankly bulging bicep (Derek works out), to his thick, and sure forearm, capped off with a large hand with surprisingly delicate seeming fingers. Then Stiles cleared his throat and looked back at the flowers.

“Oh! Yeah, they’re beautiful, Derek. And they’re perfect, I think they’ll definitely work with what I’ll need them for.”

“Okay, well let me wrap and box them for you.” Derek went and grabbed the bouquet, secretly wondering if the heat he suddenly felt on himself was Stiles’ gaze, but when he looked back, the deputy was looking into his phone. He shrugged and walked behind the counter to wrap the blooms.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to recommend anything for the inside? I was a poetry major, I could come up with something good.” Derek offered as he finished the flowers off with a nondescript white box and a bow. Stiles grinned.

“A poetry major?”

Derek shrugged, used to the question, “well, mid-century Spanish literature and… Business. Hence owning a flower shop. I’d say it fits pretty well.”

“Yeah,” the deputy replied somewhat sheepishly, “but no botany?”

“It’s a family business, everything I learned flowers-wise, I learned from my dad.” Derek said proudly. Derek loved his dad and learned a lot from him. One of the reasons he loved his shop so much was because it reminded him of the times he spent with his dad before he passed. He got a little wistful as he anticipated Stiles’ next question.

“Your dad must be really proud of you. I lost my mom when I was young and she was a baker. I would probably own a bakery if I had the attention span for it, but such as it is, my dad’s shoes ended up being the ones I chose to fill. Though come the holiday season I make a drożdzówka that will blow your mind!”

Derek looked over with wide eyes at the officer who was smiling sweetly at him.

“How… how did you know-”

Stiles shrugged, “Mostly just context clues, I’m on track to be a detective at work, but I’ve always been pretty observant. I like the way you speak about him though, because he’s always in your heart, right?”

Derek nodded, “Yeah, that’s right.”

They stared at each other for a while, Stiles’ half grinning and Derek trying to find a new way to describe Stiles’ eyes since “brown” just wasn’t cutting it, when finally Stiles’ phone rang, calling him back to Beacon Hills. He was grumbling to someone on the phone, but Derek barely noticed as Stiles turned back for one last wave before leaving the shop that day. Derek waved back and sighed. Chocolate Delphinium was definitely in the running.

Since that day, Stiles was back in shop nearly once a week buying one or a few bouquets of flowers and Derek tried hard not to crush on the man. He also tried several times to get up the nerve and tell Stiles how he felt or at least ask him out, but he let so much time pass, now he thinks he inadvertently friend-zoned himself by waiting too long. He’s also convinced himself that Stiles never seemed to show a true interest in him, he always seemed preoccupied. Much like Derek was at that moment.

“Ground control to Flower Fucker, come in Flower Fucker!” Cora screams in his face while punching him in the arm. He wants to put her in a headlock _soooo_ bad.

“Dammit, Cora, why are you still here?”

“Why haven’t you asked out flower guy?” She demands, completely ignoring things like his personal space, feelings and boundaries. “I know this guy has been coming in for months and no one sane buys that many flowers, Derek. He’s obviously into you. If you weren’t so oblivious, I might be worried that he’s crazy, but for some reason you finding someone is hard or something.”

“I can _find_ someone if I want to, Cora. I work out!”

“I know!” Cora yells, gesturing towards Derek who is trying to ignore her but inwardly sighing at the memory of the last Tinder conversation he had. It started with a guy telling him he had eyes as seafoam green as the Cuban horizon and then telling him he wanted to see them while Derek was choking on his dick. It was… the _last_ conversation Derek had on Tinder.

“Like, all of us are hot, and even though your face looks like a butt to me, it’s perfectly toned and in shape.”

“What?” Derek says, trying to remember why Cora was there and also not in the aforementioned headlock.

“Stop deflecting, Derek! Why won’t you ask him out?” Cora stands with her arms folded over her chest, her own sparkling brown eyes dark and challenging. There’s also a touch of sincere caring and it weirds Derek out.

“Fine! It’s just that.. I think I waited too long. When he first started coming here, I was ending things with Corey-”

“Who?”

“Nobody, he was nobody and totally unassuming which was kind of the reason we broke up. He cheated on me and I completely forgot that we were even dating when he told me.” Yeah, that’d been awkward, at least Derek thinks, he doesn’t remember much. “I was in a really bad place and sure, I noticed how cute Stiles was, but he’s always buying those damned flowers and I could never figure out if he was dating and now I think it’s too late.”

“It’s never too late, Der. Shit, I wish I could put in a good word, but I never see him when I go and visit Laura.”

“That’s because she offices at the city, Stiles is Beacon Sheriff’s, I don’t even know if they cross paths really.” Derek says absently. Cora shrugs,

“Well bro, there are plenty of other seeds in the pack.” Cora says, grinning shyly in an unprecedented move. She gets like that when she thinks of their dad and that was one of his more “dad-joke”-ier sayings. Derek walks over and hugs her, kissing her sweetly on the forehead, happy that for once she lets him.

“I want what’s best for you, Der. You know I don’t say shit I don’t mean.”

“Last week you told me to fuck myself on a cactus.”

“ _Real_ shit, Derek! Besides, you deserved that for eating the sandwich my girlfriend made for me!”

Derek reminisces, “It was good too. That vegan steak tasted like the real thing. I don’t know how they do it.”

Cora rolls her eyes so hard Derek is surprised it didn’t give her a headache.

“It was steak! They just started selling _some_ vegan shit, but the whole shop isnt- dammit, Derek, what’s wrong with you?”

“So many things, Cor. But we’ll have to talk about them later because Stiles is on his way and there’s no fucking way I’m letting you two be in the same room. I love you, now get the fuck out of my store.”

“Whatever, big bro. Love you too.”

“Bring me back another sandwich!” Derek yells as he watches Cora flipping him off on the way out the door.

He couldn’t be bothered to be offended. Stiles would be on his way soon and he wanted to make sure everything was ready.


	2. Chapter 2

**

“So, let’s talk logistics for next week. The Miss Beacon County competition will be going on which means we’re gonna get all the farm hicks and rubes from around the county. Opportune poon time, my friend! Oppor- _poon_ time? Ha! My dad would have hated that gross misuse of pun, but my Uncle would love it. I’m going to text him, he ended up finding a burner in Eichen Penitentiary and keeps making me send him lives for Candy Crush.”

Stiles watches, completely flummoxed as Laura…. _out-Laura’s_ herself. He looks back at the stack of paperwork on his desk and then at the clock on the wall as the hands tick idly by.

“Is there… something I can help you with, ma’m? I’m really busy and-”

Stiles has been sitting in the chair across from Laura for the past 15 minutes listening to her ramble and trade what are probably extremely incriminating and unprofessional (and let’s face it, just plain gross) texts with her incarcerated uncle.

Stiles doesn’t remember why Peter was jailed- some sort of revenge plot involving a brother? But he knew Laura worked her way up the ranks with the hope of finding a way to set him free. She talks about her journey all the time, but unfortunately it seems like Laura was taking the scenic route.

“You’re busy with me, Stiles. I need you to be my bodyguard/wingman so I can score some choice cooz!”

“ _Cooz_?! What the fu- Captain, this is a gross misuse of my time.” Stiles yells, flailing his arms out. When this started, he’d been scared to express his true feelings as he wanted to stay on Laura’s good side, but he soon noticed that Laura didn’t seem to care enough to notice -or have a good side-, so he threw decorum out the window a while back.

“Time?! You don’t have any fucking time unless I schedule it, Stilinski! You are mine!” She slams her phone on the desk and points a sharp, bright red nail at Stiles. Then her phone buzzes, immediately pulling her attention. She picks it up and bursts out laughing and then pulls up her shirt to snap a picture of the triskele tattooed on her hip.

“Laura!” Stiles flails yet again. Decorum be damned, he may be able to stand up to her, but not using her rank was definitely taking a chance. It seems to be what pulls Laura’s focus as she cocks an eyebrow at him, regarding him drolly. Her shirt is still up and she’s still trying to get a good angle, but she’s listening. Stiles clears his throat.

“ _Ma’am_. When I joined the force, it was to serve and protect, not to be your bodyguard from jilted paramours, nor the procurer of exotic dancers and mid-level beauty pageant contestants and single moms and… single dads and literally every warm body in the Beacon Hills metro! The first month I worked here I had to get my uniform dry cleaned nearly three times a week because someone you _jilted_ would come in and throw some sort of super hot liquid on _me._ Because of _you_!” Stiles remembers crying at the end of his first month on the force. The absolute fucking worst had been the hippie guy with white-boy dreads who had the nerve to tell Stiles to tell Laura he wished her nothing but peace and blessings and more. The _more_ ended up being the uncharacteristically scalding hot kimchi broth thrown all over Stiles and his desk.

“Please, ma'am. I just ask that you show a little better discretion and let me learn my job as an actual deputy and serve the people of this county. You’ve pulled me out of class and training exercises to protect you while you went and bought smokes at the store! I just don’t think I can do it anymore!”

Stiles slumps in his chair, exhausted at his own revelations. It’s been six months of this bullshit and it was catching up to Stiles. The only thing he had to look forward to was the once or twice a week he got to go see Derek But he wasn’t sure if he could afford it that much longer. Maybe he should just ask him ou-

“Stilinski.”

Stiles startles as he notices dark, precisely manicured brows and green eyes boring a hole into him. Laura has moved to in front of the desk and is leaning forward assaulting Stiles with a withering glare and entirely too much cleavage.

“I’ll concede that when you joined, it was to serve and protect. But if you want to stay on the team, then your job is to do what I fucking tell you!” She seethes at him, poking him in the chest before sitting up and crossing her arms over her chest. “Besides, think about it, a lot of what I have you do is the actual job, Stiles, but the larger part of it is networking and marketing yourself. I’m the Captain of the Sheriff’s department, I have a lot of pull and a lot of say. You’re on track to become a detective in just another three years, Stiles. That’s unparalleled and you will have deserved it. You’re a good deputy and think how much better you’ll be solving crimes?”

“But I’m not learning to solve crime, Captain, I’m learning to-”

“Overcome obstacles, maintain civic order, damage control and containment and negotiation. I was really impressed with the way you talked down that girl who tried to throw the fake blood on me, shit, should I call her? She had the best weed...”

Stiles bristles remembering that day. He’d just shelled out a couple of hundred bucks for a new uniform after the kimchi guy (that shit was _not_ coming out) and then Laura decided to wear fur as a way to not so subtly break-up with the head of their local PETA chapter. Stiles ended up talking Hayden out of throwing the paint on Laura and instead told her to throw it on him. Sure, he’d be out another couple hundred bucks, but he considered it an investment since Hayden ended up being the one that had given him the idea for flowers in the first place.

‘ _I just don’t see why she has to be so cruel? Just talk to me! Hell, break up with me over flowers! Or don’t even make me think it’s a relationship, you know? I’m a modern woman, hook-ups are fine, but she kept acting like she wanted more, just to be a conniving bitch and throw me away!”_

Stiles listened and held Hayden as she cried, until they were both covered in paint and sorrowful tears. The other good thing from that night was that Laura refused to have Stiles anywhere near her or her coyote fur jacket so he got to go home and think about how the flowers thing might work. He called Derek for the first time the next week.

That was nearly six months ago and Stiles has been better for it. Sure, he shells out his own hard earned money for the flowers, but it’s still cheaper than a new uniform every two weeks and he is generally less stressed knowing these people think Laura is being sweet and not a complete dick. He’s just tired and he wants to start being a cop, dammit!

“So stick with me, kid. I know the first part can be tough, but you can do it and uhhh… ummm…” Laura has gone back to texting and Stiles rolls his eyes. “Hey, help me get a better picture of this thing, Peter’s gonna have some dude in one of the sub-blocks tattoo it for him.” She hikes up her shirt and holds the phone out to Stiles who would be leveling her with his gaze if she were paying any attention to him at all. He snaps the pic and stands, leaving without being dismissed, not that Laura even notices - and goes back to his desk to pack up his things finally allowing for a little smile on his face.

He was on his way to Sparks Falls to see Derek!

 

 

**

 

In the car Stiles yells along to the radio and tries not to think too hard about seeing Derek. Not that he doesn’t want to think about it. He just knows it’s going to be his only bright spot for a while so he wants to draw it out as long as he can.

Next week was going to be a beast. Stiles had heard about the competition and joined the feminist fight against it by campaigning to get it moved or cancelled or changed to some sort of write-in thing based on merit or essay. Sure, he cared about the feminist matters and empowering women based on more than looks and public appearance, so really it wasn’t him being entirely selfish when he hoped in vain that Laura would never know about the competition.

Laura unfortunately found out and Stiles was thinking about selling off some of his Marvel figures to pay for the excess in flowers he was going to have to buy. The last time this happened was back in February over Valentine’s Day. He’d had to ask his dad for a loan. Still.. it was worth it. And he got to see Derek twice a week during that time.

Sigh… Derek. Stiles knows he’s been stressed with the Laura thing because it took him a couple of months to even really notice Derek. Well, that’s not true, he noticed Derek right away. He remembers the day he called he was hiding under his desk because kimchi guy had come back after going out with Laura a second time and Stiles had _just_ gotten that damned smell out of his desk. Thankfully the guy just came in to see if Laura was there. That was other thing that drove Stiles crazy, Laura didn’t even office there, but told all her booty calls she did which caused them to come to the Beacon County Sheriff’s Office looking for her, but they always found Stiles instead. The guy looked around for a bit, and finally just left.

Boyd gave Stiles the all clear about halfway through the conversation and he came from under his desk and gave his information to Derek to pay for the flowers.

He’d chosen a flower shop in Sparks Falls because it was far enough that someone wouldn’t catch on and close enough that Stiles could pick up the bouquets without burning through too much time and gas. The outskirts of Beacon Hills had been long neglected so Stiles took on the additional task of renovating patrol for the area, thus giving him an excuse for always being out that way.

Stiles was always a planner and he took notes like his mileage and additional expenses as he traveled to Derek’s for the first time. He remembers walking into the shop and immediately eyeing the bouquets. They were made of peace lilies which were his mother’s favorite. He knew Derek had no way of knowing that, but it still warmed Stiles’ heart just thinking of it.

Then Stiles turned his head and got a good look at the man in question. And then he spent the rest of his energy trying to not get a boner.

The man? Was fucking gorgeous.

Sure, Stiles had seen a lot of hot dudes during his time. He went to college in LA, and he had a gym membership. He was surrounded by sex on legs with heaps of middling self confidence and low emotional health on a daily basis. Bumping uglies with a pretty face was never the problem, the problem was what came next.

LA was _big_ and even though each little section had it’s thing, it still felt easy to get lost. Beacon Hills was Stiles’ home and while there was no shortage of handsome (Boyd was particularly comely, even though he had the nerve to be straight and crushing on the sandwich girl), but Stiles wanted something different, something more.

When talking on the phone, sure, he had a picture of a guy; dark brown hair, olive skin, maybe some stubble. Stiles thought about the type of guy he thought worked in a flower shop and while Derek certainly showed his passion for plants during their conversations, Stiles could never fully reconcile what he could have looked like until the moment he walked through those doors.

Beauty amongst the blooms.

He’d smoothed out his uniform and looked at the darling little bouquets waiting for him. He loved the smell inside the shop, it reminded him of his grandmother’s house in Poland. He’d spent his gap year there after highschool and his Babcia loved to fill the house with all sorts of live plants. Stiles looked at the flowers Derek prepared. The gerber daisies were bright and cheerful and the purple irises complimented the bouquet beautifully. He wanted to cheer up Laura’s jilted lovers without it being overly sappy and trite and these would do just the job.

Stiles did also notice Derek in his peripheral vision, but took a moment to steel himself against the onslaught of thoughts he had towards the man. They hit him so fast it almost made his eyes water. His first thought was regarding the shock of raven black hair that topped Derek’s head and the matching stubble kissing his cheeks. A sharp nose and ridiculously high cheekbones helped provide the trophy case for green… no.. grey? No… _hazel_ ; mysterious, ever changing hazel eyes framed by feral eyebrows.

He wondered how this man became a gardner, wondered why more people weren’t in the shop drooling over him, wondered where he got his disarming smile and even took a very small moment to wonder if he’d ever bottomed. Small as it was (minute, really), it was that last thought that finally caused Stiles to look at the man directly, assessing him with investigative eyes.

He walked towards Derek with his hand extended and was met with a soft, warm and solid grip.

Damn, Derek was tall, just a little taller than Stiles, and he was solid. Derek turned slightly and Stiles could tell he was slim with a trunk that popped. Stiles could hold that up.

He introduced himself and then he and Derek were giggling and it made Stiles very happy. He doesn’t even remember what they were laughing about, but it was the lightest he’d felt all week. Derek then pointed out the bouquets and Stiles tried to make small talk to push the thought of biting Derek’s bicep out of his mind.

He talked about his mother, which he never does, but he knew as Derek talked about his dad, it was firmly in past tense. He knew what that was like and felt himself endeared to the man. He wanted to talk to him more, maybe even flirt a bit. He was going to make what he thought was a great comment about Derek’s ass as he turned away to box up the bouquets when he got a text from Laura wondering where he was.

That’s when he decided to put the flirting out of his mind. He had to get the Laura shit under control before pursuing something with Derek. It wouldn’t be fair for any partner to only have half of Stiles’ attention and especially to be sharing it with his bitch of a boss.

It’s not until a few months later that Stiles thinks to ask out Derek again, but by then maybe it’s too late? He’s got a good system with Laura and seeing Derek is still the best part of his week, but he can’t imagine any reason that Derek might think the same of Stiles. He’s sure he doesn’t have his own Laura to deal with or he’d probably look more stressed out and not absolutely perfect and right for Stiles.

He sighs as he pulls into his usual space next to Derek’s Camaro (Stiles has since learned the Camaro used to belong to Derek’s dad which only makes him feel slightly bad about the things he wants to do to Derek on the hood of that Camaro). The parking lot is empty and Stiles is glad because it means he’ll get more of Derek to himself. Even if the thought of romance is on the backburner, Stiles loves just spending time with the guy. Maybe he can suggest they hang as friends? Maybe friends who make out and grope at each other’s-

“You gonna sit out here all day, deputy?”

Stiles shakes from his reverie and sees Derek at the door waving at him. He’s wearing a greenhouse apron and is holding a pot full of dirt and Stiles can’t help it… he’s heads over heels for the guy. He salutes and then gets out heading towards the door.

“Calm down, Rappaccini, I’m not going anywhere.” Stiles says, stepping into the shop after Derek turns and leads him in. Stiles doesn’t mind the view. Derek snorts.

“That’s a deep pull for you, Stiles, I’m impressed.”

“Hey, I went to college-” Stiles says as he walks closely with Derek to the backroom. Stiles knows customers don’t usually go back there, but he’s a VIP, he’s got perks, “… for a while.”

Derek raises an eyebrow at him, smirking lightly. Damn, he could be a little shit. As much as Stiles hates Laura, he realizes he would like her a lot more if she were a cute little shit and not a heartbreaker in haute couture.

Stiles looks at the purple lilies, “Oh wow, Derek, these are awesome! And look at those cute little pom poms! What are they called? They can’t be pom poms, right?”

Derek grins, “Actually, that’s exactly what they are; Yoko Ono poms.” He fingers the bud gently and Stiles reaches out to do the same. He notices Derek’s eyes on his fingers and then his gaze drops to Derek’s mouth. It’s saying something to him, Stiles doesn’t know what, he just likes the way it moves. He thinks about the ways it could move, up and down on his-

“Would you like that?” Derek asks with a chippy raise of brow. Stiles swallows, totally busted, and tried to recover by thinking of what it was Derek could have possibly said. They were talking about poms… Yoko Ono poms? Why were they even called that? Stiles looks back at Derek who is still watching him expectantly with a hint of mischievous mirth in his eyes. Stiles doesn’t have a fucking clue.

“Okay! Fuck, you got me, what did you ask?”

Derek laughs brightly as Stiles blushes, but Derek is good enough not to push the indiscretion.

“I was asking if you were sure you didn’t want a poem included? I have an excerpt that’s short and sweet.”

“Oh yeah?” Stiles asks, resting on his elbows on the counter. Derek does the same and Stiles can’t help his wandering eyes again, “Let’s hear some, Derek Neruda.”

“It’s actually Amado Nervo and it’s from _El Dia Que Me Quieras_.”

_‘The Day You Want Me’,_ Stiles thinks to himself. He wasn’t great at speaking Spanish, but living 6 months in Spain for the back half of his gap year and then 3 years in Los Angeles for college, he could pick up conversation pretty well. This one in particular interested him. He swallows.

“Sounds… interesting. How does it go?”

Derek shrugs, he idly caresses the velvet like petals of the Yoko Ono poms and then holds one out to Stiles who grins and tucks it behind his ear. “There are lots of good parts, but I think this one might be nice:

 

**_El día que me quieras tendrá más luz que junio;_ **

**_la noche que me quieras será de plenilunio,_ **

**_con notas de Beethoven vibrando en cada rayo_ **

**_sus inefables cosas, y habrá juntas más rosas_ **

**_que en todo el mes de mayo._ **

 

Derek finishes and his eyes flicker up to Stiles who isn’t entirely sure he’s breathing. He’s turning the translation around in his head until he realizes that… oh _fuck_!

“Umm, that’s… really nice and romantic.”

Derek grins and nods. Stiles’ brow furrows slightly.

“Like, _really_ romantic, like you give that shit to someone you love or at the very least someone you want to… uhh-”

Derek, seemingly realizing the implication of his words, looks down at the table while Stiles babbles.

“I mean, it’s lovely! If that’s what these flowers are for, but they’re not!” Stiles explains, trying valiantly not to flail and shake Derek and kiss his stupid mouth until he gets it.

“Oh? These aren’t for a girlfriend or boyfriend?” Derek looks up with something like hope in his eyes and Stiles finally starts breathing again.

“Oh hell no, it’s… it’s a long story, but trust me, I am hashtag forever alone.”

“Really?” Derek asks and Stiles wants to kick himself.

“Uh, no! I mean.. Well, I’m just always so busy, it’s like I’m leading two lives instead of just one, you know?” And that was basically true. And Derek was endlessly busy with the shop, so he was sure he would get it.

Derek nods, “Yeah, I was just… well, I assumed and made an ass out of myself.”

“It’s a good ass.” Stiles mumbles to himself, allowing his eyes a brief dip into the pool of Derek’s nether regions. Derek looks at him confused.

“What?”

“You’re a good ass.” Stiles says by way of correcting himself and that’s about all the explanation he has for that one.

“Stiles-” Derek tries, but Stiles cuts him off.

“I said, so when’s your birthday?”

Derek smiles wide and Stiles is nearly knocked over by it.

“Alright, Stilinski. Everyone gets one and this is it. My birthday is on Christmas.”

“Damn, _on_ Christmas? Is that good or terrible?”

“With my family a bit of both. Why do you ask?”

Stiles shrugs, “I don’t know, it just came to mind so I thought I’d ask.”

“Did it just come to mind because you were saving yourself from having to explain-”

“Everyone gets one, Derek! This is mine, let me have it!”

The men laugh and chat some more before Stiles gathers up the blooms and leaves. He wishes he could stay longer, but he knew the next two weeks were going to be ridiculous and he had to get ready.


	3. Chapter 3

**

“Generally sleeping with the father _and_ the daughter is frowned upon, right? Like that’s just common sense, _don’t fuck the egg of the person who gives you eggs_? That’s a saying, right?”

Stiles is in his patrol car driving Laura around town. The week-long pageant was in full swing and there were events all over the city commemorating. Laura was up to her eyeballs in strange - her words… _clearly_.

“But like, where does the area code thing fit into all of this? Because she goes to school at Cal Tech and he lives in Meadow Springs, so that’s acceptable right? You know what? Fuck it, just tell me I can bang this girl even though I slept with her dad like 5 years ago.”

“It was less than five months ago, Laura.” Stiles remembers because he gave the man a three pack of succulents and he seemed really happy. But as soon as his daughter had come to the door to see what the delivery was, Stiles knew Laura would find a way to fuck it up… and the daughter.

“Oh, really? Huh, I guess I’ll pass then.” She says as she pulls out her phone and begins texting the next victim, or her uncle, Stiles honestly can’t tell form the tone anymore.

All he knows is that Laura is definitely going to find this girl and Stiles has to think about what kind of flowers would soothe the news to a college girl that your dad had banged the first girl you’d ever had sex with.

“Cheer up, Stilinski!” Laura admonishes the young deputy, punching him playfully in the arm, his deteriorating mood, impossible to miss. “It’s a fucking holiday! Why don’t you get out there and find yourself some nice nice? You’re not too unpleasant around the face, hell you’re downright cute. Hey, how come we’ve never-“

“I’M SO FUCKING GAY, LAURA!” Stiles yells, gripping the steering wheel. He was bi, but _shit_ Laura.

“Oh really? Weren’t you in love with that sandwich shop girl?” Laura muses while scrolling through her phone.

“That’s Boyd.” Stiles says trying to take the attention from himself. He knows she’s talking about Lydia who owns the shop that sandwich girl works at, and he had been in love with her even though in her own round-a-bout way she helped him discover that his fascination with guys was much, much more.

“No, not Erica, the other girl who owns it, Lydia. She’s dating my baby sister. Which is unfortunate because that’s a road I can’t cross.”

Stiles can’t help his snort. “What? Laura with boundaries?”

“Shit, Laura without a black eye. My lil sis is fierce as shit, she used to kick the shit out of my brother and me when we were kids. It was uncanny.”

Stiles had to find out a way to meet her. If not to get tips how to end this bullshit, then just to see what kind of people were related to the Captain. It was weird thinking of Laura as a little kid and having an actual family. He’d just assumed she’d sprung from the asshole of a demon or something. And did Laura mention a brother?

“Did you mention a br-“

“Well if you’re ever feeling a little frilinski-”

They start talking at the same time, but Stiles stops upon hearing ‘... _frilinski’_

“Was that _‘frisky’_ mixed with Stilin- and I already said I was gay! Dammit Laura, what’s wrong with you?”

“Daddy issues, what about you?”

“We’re not- this isn’t- I fucking hate you so much.” And Stiles would worry about again being so callous with the woman who approves his salary, but once again it’s all moot as Laura doesn’t even notice the infraction while she texts her next conquest.

“Turn into here and we’ll figure out tonight. It’s fitness night and all the contestants are going to be at hot yoga. God bless A-fucking-merica.” Laura laughs and tosses her planner at Stiles while she texts more. Stiles sighs.

 

**

“Bouquets for Days, this is Derek speaking, can you please hold?” Derek puts the call on hold with one hand while he frantically ties off corsages with the other. He’s also peeking longingly across the room to the flowers on his work bench and wishing he were doing that instead of this. He swears he remembers Miss Beacon being a thing, but this year seemed extra busy. Perhaps because while in the past the distraction was welcome, now it was just taking his time away from texting with Stiles.

Derek grins to himself and looks at the flowers on his work bench. They were next to his cell phone which had been lighting up with texts from the deputy all day. Sure, Derek had used the bustle of the week and the fact that his phone kept ringing non-stop to propose he just give Stiles his cell. That way if he needed a bouquet (Stiles had insisted he would need _many_ , he could just text Derek. And you know… if he saw a funny meme or something or just wanted to say hi, that was cool too.

Derek was sure he was _very_ cool when he said it and Stiles seemed to think so and definitely took him up on the offer. Occasionally Stiles would send Derek pictures of his drop-offs though Derek still couldn’t make heads or tails of what it was exactly Stiles was doing. The expressions of the recipients seemed to be surprised as far as Derek could tell since the pictures were always taken from afar. But they always smiled in the end as they held the flowers and read the card. There were men and women, some young, some middle aged. All of them were pretty good looking, but Derek couldn’t tell what they had in common with each other much less how they were connected with Stiles.

Stiles never said and Derek wasn’t comfortable asking again. He trusted Stiles… well, not that he had any right to demand trust from Stiles, they weren’t dating, which is why he didn’t ask, it clearly wasn’t any of his business.

But they had been vibing lately and Derek wonders (and kind of hopes) that it becomes his business soon. He sees his phone light up again and this time he goes to check it. Stiles has taken a picture of himself in his car pouting with his lip out. He’s using some kind of filter that gives him puppy dog ears and a cute little nose. Derek saves the pic immediately.

‘ _Rather be hanging with you_.’ is what the message says and Derek can’t help but blush. He knows that Stiles has been extremely busy with security during the pageant events and has been super stressed. Derek tries to send him quotes or pics of pretty flowers through the day and Stiles always seems really appreciative. He wishes he were hanging out with Stiles, too. Maybe after this week he’ll finally muster up the courage to-

Derek gets another pic and it’s a small video. A young woman runs to her house and stops when she sees the box of flowers on the porch. She appears angry though Derek can’t really tell from the angle. She bends over and opens the box roughly though she slows once she sees inside. She pulls out the card and reads it, looking around. Finally she smiles and holds the bouquet to her chest, hugging it before she goes in.

It was the deconstructed royal spray that Derek had put together for Stiles. It had electric blue

alstroemeria, irises, delphinium and spider mums and Derek put it together because he knew Stiles likes blue, he said it was pretty. Stiles must have gotten confused and gave her the wrong box. Derek sighs as he sees Stiles typing a message.

_...This is why I do it, Der. Did you see her face? I avoided a huge disaster and instead made her day. Thanks for being a part of that._

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Derek yells at his phone.

“I’m just digging through the scraps for something for Lydia, jeez!” Cora yells at him, throwing her hands in the air. Derek starts, he hadn’t even realized she was there.

“Fuck you, Cora!” He yells, stomping back to his corsages. Cora baulks.

“What?! What was that for?”

“Just because!”

“What’s got your ass in a bunch? And stop being such a pissy bitch, you know I actually care by the fact that I haven’t kicked your ass yet!”

“You haven’t been able to kick my ass for years.”

“That’s because I haven’t had reason. You wanna make one, Buns?!” Cora stances up and Derek looks at her briefly before crumbling into his chair.

Cora drops the bravado and walks over concerned.

“Shit, Derek. This kid’s really got you messed up, huh? Do you want me to kick his ass?”

Derek grinned, he kinda did, but only a little. He shakes his head.

“No, things are just kind of confusing now and we’re both so busy that signals are getting crossed, I don’t know.” Cora nods.

“I get that, bro. Erica made a new keto friendly menu at the store and now it’s swamped all the time. I don’t get to see my little gingersnap as much as I’d like.”

Derek knew Cora was being vulnerable but….

“Gingersnap?” Cora’s head flies up and she stares wide eyed at Derek who _knows_ he just got a very important card to play. Cora narrows her eyes and points at him.

“You get one, brother. Use it wisely.” Then Cora grabs a couple of small bouquets she’d evidently put together while she was there - damn, Derek needed to pay better attention - and slaps him on the back of the head on her way out. Derek chuckles to himself, thinking about when to strike with the gingersnap line. He picks up his phone and watches the video again.

The girl’s face was so happy.

_...Glad it worked out. That was an interesting choice for the bouquet you gave her._

Derek wasn’t sure where he was going with that statement, but he couldn’t help himself. He had to know _something_.

_...Actually that’s the sucky part. I meant to keep those for myself, but I was in such a rush to get over there that I grabbed the wrong box. I loved that bouquet, that blue was almost neon, it was so pretty. I don’t know if you have any scraps around, and I know you’re busy and I’m officially fucking broke, but if you wanna throw something together..._

Derek can’t wipe the smile off of his face.

_...I think I can do that, and don’t worry about the next few bouquets. I have plenty of “scraps” left._

_...omg dude, marry me!_

_‘If only’,_ Derek thinks as he starts piecing together odds and ends to put together some bouquets for Stiles.

 

 

**

 

Stiles watches as Carissa Baldwin takes the flowers… dammit _his_ flowers inside of her house. Granted, he’s happy that she’s happy, but he’s grown a real appreciation for the buds and he nearly melted when Derek gave him that one. In his mind, Derek definitely made it for him and he couldn’t believe he’d been stupid enough to grab the wrong one.

In the end though, he’d pulled off his greatest feat to date. Laura _had_ bedded the farmer and his daughter and Stiles watched as the daughter stood shocked, mouth gaping in horror as her dad made out with what she thought was her new girlfriend. Carissa left and Stiles broke several traffic laws, getting to her house and placing the flowers just in time for her to get them. On the card he wrote ‘ _The apple doesn’t far fall from the tree, but the tree calls to me. Thank you for being such sweet fruit.’_ Okay, he doesn’t entirely know what that’s supposed to mean (and now that he thinks about it, he’s really concerned she seemed satisfied), but it did the trick and now hopefully Stiles won’t have to worry about her trying to come into the office with a bucket of compost.

He’s been at it all week, delivering flowers to Laura’s cast-offs and while it’s alleviating some potential issues, it is starting to wear on him. He’s pretty sure he dropped off a bouquet of roses and carnations along with a card that said “ _you did real good_ ” and he really hopes that he’s remembering that wrong. He doesn’t even recall who he gave it too. He was going to be damned happy when this stupid competition was over

**

Stiles was at Derek’s now. The florist had some leftover pink gerbera daisies and some pink alstroemeria so he was putting them together while Stiles wrote out his cards. He didn’t usually do them in the store, but Derek wasn’t complaining since Stiles rolled up his shirt sleeves to do it and Derek could see his strong forearms. From time to time though, he did catch a glance at what Stiles was writing. He noticed the phrase, ‘ _gone out for smokes_ ” and he looks at Stiles oddly. Stiles just keeps writing, eyes half covered by heavy lids. Derek takes the pen from Stiles and leads him to a cot in the back where Derek sometimes naps during the busy season. Derek worries, but he also finds that he likes having Stiles in his space and can’t wait until the week is over to tell him how he feels.

The pageant ends and slowly, Derek can start seeing the life come back to Stiles’ eyes. It starts slowly at first, Stiles will bring in coffee and the two will sip silently while Stiles acclimates to a life not playing personal flower delivery man at all hours of the day. Apparently Stiles’ boss decided to take a few days for recovery herself so Stiles was finally breathing easy and the more he came back online, the more he started to get closer to Derek. By the end of the week they were reading the paper together, shoulder to shoulder while sipping the morning brew. Then Stiles would go out for his shift and Derek would try to take him lunch while he was near the city limits on patrol.

Derek was going to ask him out that day. Stiles had just left to start his shift and Derek is preparing a bouquet of white hydrangeas and callas, tulips, pink roses, pink gerberas and hanging amaranthus. There’d be no mistaking his intentions when he gave Stiles the bouquet and he couldn’t wait.

His phone rings.

“Bouquets for Days, this is Derek speaking. How can I help you?”

“You’re the owner, right?”

“Yes, ma’am, this is a Hale family establishment, how can I help you?” He explains cheerily as he finds a bow to wrap the flowers in.

“Maybe you can help explain why you think it’s okay to sell flowers to that dastardly deputy.” Terrible alliteration aside, Derek’s attention peaks when he hears mention of what has to be Stiles.

“Excuse me?”

“I live in Nemeton Towers in Beacon Hills and just about every other week one that Sheriff’s deputy comes in here dropping off flowers. I got curious and asked my neighbor what was going on. She said that she’d had a one night stand and she was almost upset because she hadn’t heard anything back from the person, but she got flowers from your shop with a polite dismissal and she was fine.”

Derek is still a little flummoxed, he guesses it’s okay for Stiles to be seeing other people, or well, just people -they weren’t a thing- but is this what Stiles does? Can he not commit to anyone? Damn, he buys a _lot_ of flowers!

“Well, ma’am, if you don’t mind my saying, that doesn’t sound _too_ bad.”

“Well it wouldn’t if it was just her, but Derek I talked to over a _dozen_ other tenants in my community, male and female and they all had the same story! Oddly enough the first girl was the only one who had a shop sticker on her box. It’s like he’d forgotten to take it off Listen, I’m not against promiscuity, but this is outrageous! Are you really okay with your beautiful flowers being associated with the kind you get when you wanna say ‘ _hey, thanks for the bang!_ ’?”

Derek hangs up and wonders what the hell is going on. It doesn’t sound like something that the Stiles he’s gotten to know would do, but the woman did say a deputy dropped them off and it fits. Derek looks at the bouquet he’s created and decides to put it in the fridge. It should keep while he tries to figure out what to do.

He sleeps on it and is almost resolved to just talk to Stiles about it when he gets another call.

“Hi, Derek. I got a box of flowers from your shop, I think? There’s a sticker that’s half ripped off and a note that says ‘ _gone out for smokes_ ’.” The guy was evidently a pretty major stoner and couldn’t remember who the guy could have been, “He was cute from what I saw, and I do remember getting dicked down by a cop, but I think the penis had boobs… and maybe another penis.”

“What the fuck are you even saying to me right now?” Derek asks, clearly perturbed.

“Did you just say _fuck_ to me? Aren’t you a business owner? That’s unprofessional, bro!”

“Says the guy who lost track of the number of dicks?” Derek shoots back. The dude gasps.

“Dude! That was… hot. Hey, you single?”

“Goodbye, sir.” Derek hangs up and calls the one person he always calls even though he knows he’s going to completely regret it. The phone answers on the first ring.

“Baby bro!”

“Hi Laura.”


	4. Chapter 4

**

 

“I know we don’t talk much-”

“Which is a damned shame and a fucking disgrace, lil bro! Why don’t we talk more?”

“Because you’re a terrible fucking person who never lets me get a wor-”

“Oh yeah, that sounds about right! What’s up, buttmunch?”

The regret settles in earlier than usual this time. Derek wonders why he makes such terrible choices in his life. It’s not like there’s been a large number of times where his older sister is usually an asshole but then expends dollops of wisdom and comfort to him. He almost always regrets it. He guesses the stock she gained when their dad died - when she acted like a human for almost a full week- just keeps vesting, despite the fact it hasn’t performed since then.

Still, Derek knows when he needs a kick in the ass, even if he’s loathe to admit it, so maybe that’s the appeal. Telling his sister all of his business so she can mock him just enough to shame him into doing the right thing for himself. That’s how he finally broke up with… damn it, what was his name?

“You’re the buttmunch,” he can’t help but mutter under his breath and before she can reply, he keeps talking, “listen, I’m interested in this guy that comes to the shop who is a deputy in the Sheriff’s station. I don’t even know if you know him.”

“I know everyone, Derek. And everyone knows me. What’s the kid’s name?”

Derek sighs, this was it, the point of no return. Even though he prays it won’t happen, he knows she’s going to track him down and maybe he should just forget all about-

“Stiles!? Hell yeah, he’s a great kid, shows a lot of potential!”

Dammit, Derek! He never could hold in anything around her. Laura hums to herself.

“He’s easily distracted, though. Did you know he’s missed some vital training? Keeps getting pulled by one of the higher ups, but he’s a smart kid and can catch up, right?”

“What? Why would I know that? Why are you telling me this? It’s highly unprofessional!”

“Well you’re the one who wants to bang him! And by the way, good call, he’s fucking hot. Have you seen those arms? He won’t give me the time of day.”

“Why the hell would he give you the time of day? Laura, did you-”

“Listen, Buns, totally unrelated, but like, he’s behind in training but not because he’s actually being held from training, right? But because he can’t catch up, right? Shit, is his career fucked?”

“So, you’re high right now. I called for relationship advice and you’re fucking high right now! Dammit, Laura, why do I even bother?“

“Okay, okay, fine! This is about you, Buns. Why haven’t you jumped his bones already? You weren’t able to reach the cobwebs in your ass?”

“My ass is fine, Laura! Well, not fine, because he’s not buried in it!”

“What? Gross!”

“Seriously!?”

“Haha! No, I’m just kidding baby bro, I hope he deep dicks ya good!”

Derek rubs the bridge of his nose, not because he’s not used to this, but because he likes it. Shit, as terrible as Laura was, Derek probably wasn’t too far behind.

“We’ve been kind of vibing lately and I want to ask him out but I just got some really disturbing phone calls _about_ him and I wanted to see… well, if you’ve heard anything?”

He hears Laura huff like she’s actually listening, it surprises him a bit.

“Oh shit, what were the calls about? I like the Stilinski kid, his old man’s the former sheriff, remember? He moved south after he retired, but he was really involved with dad’s case even though it went cold. I’ve kind of taken the kid under my wing as a thank you, but if I have to fuck him up, you know I will.”

That’s the other thing Derek had to give to his sisters. Even though they were pains in his ass, they did always have his back. Laura gave what’s his name enough parking tickets for a warrant after she found out he cheated on Derek, and Derek didn’t even care about that.

“I don’t know. I guess it’s not all that bad, it’s just… weird, maybe rude?”

“What? What were the calls about?”

“Well evidently he’s been bedding down with nearly the entire town of Beacon Hills and then sending flowers after to kind of let the person down easy? Sending _my_ flowers though, so now people think I’m the flower shop for one night stand rejects!”

“Wait, so Stilinski is fucking the entire town and then sending them flowers and people are… upset?”

“Well, just recently, but honestly now that I think about it, it’s had to have been going on since I met him, and lately he’s been really stressed so I guess he just got sloppy. He actually wrote, ‘ _going out for smokes_ ’ on one of the cards.”

“So up until now -when he got a little messy- it’s been working?”

“I guess so, I haven’t gotten any complaints until now.”

“That’s fucking _genius!_ ” Laura exclaims. Derek is confused.

“Uhh, I guess-”

“Holy shit, that’s why he hasn’t had to pay for any new uniforms lately!”

“I don’t know what that means, Laura.”

‘Well they used to go to the station and spray him with all kinds of chunky stews and hot broths, but it’s been months since that happened. Shit, I knew that kid was inventive; he really will make detective early.”

“Laura, he’s a cad!” Derek spits, uncaring of the dated nomenclature, “A brut, a scoundrel, a roustabout!”

“A gallant! A lech, a rake!”

“He’s a damned lothario and I don’t want him fucking all of Beacon Hills, I just want him fucking me! Dammit, this is just like what happened with Corey.. I think?”

“Who?”

“Actually, maybe I was the one who cheated on him. You remember his friend, Mason? He was cute.”

“He was 17, Derek.”

“Oh shit, _that’s_ why we broke up!” Derek says, remembering, and then bristling while he writes himself a personal note in his planner. “Anyhow, he said we could talk about things after the pageant craziness died down and now I find out he’s a fucking sex addict and using my flowers to smooth over his grossness! And he hides it behind complaining about his boss, but really it’s him!”

“Wait, what? He complains about his boss?”

“Oh yeah, all the fucking time. Actually, can you find out who she is? He says she’s hot, but extremely unprofessional and a complete bitch. She’s just using him as her errand boy. I’m concerned if she’s really like that or maybe he’s just using that as a cover?”

“I say ‘ _fuck him_ ’, Der!”

“I’m fucking _trying_!”

“No, Buns, not literally. I mean let him go! I’m sure his boss is a fantastic woman! And so fuck him! Well actually, wait, no... you _should_ fuck him!” Laura yells, quickly changing direction.

“Laura, I don’t know what you’re-”

“Look, he’s a dastardly gigolo, right?”

“Damned right!”

“So you’re not gonna wanna talk to him, because this flower thing is definitely going to keep happening, but why does Beacon Hills get to have some and you can’t?”

Derek wants badly to protest, but shit.. Stiles was hot and he was horny. And if Derek really was going to throw away the chance at a relationship, he should get a fun ride out of it, right?

“I just… this is so weird, Laura. Maybe… maybe I should talk to him? Give him a chance to explain?” That’s really what kept Derek from just ignoring and blocking Stiles in the first place. He was so sweet and affable when he was with Derek. Sure, he was a little shit, but it was endearing, not off-putting. Derek had to be missing something, right?”

Laura whistles directly into the phone, causing Derek to cringe.

“No, Derek! That’s letting him have the upper hand! Here’s what you do, you act normal, you go out on a date and make it look promising af. 2.5 kids and a dog, all that domestic baking cookies bullshit, right? Then you take him home, give him the nasty-”

“Gross, I hear it now-”

“Fuck his fucking brains out and then the next day send him a _shit_ ton of flowers and maybe the cards can say that ‘ _going out for smokes_ ’ thing, I like that a _lot_.”

Derek scratches the back of his head.

“Why am I thinking this is actually a good idea?”

“Shit, how horny are you?”

“Shut up, Laura, you’re supposed to be convincing me!”

“I don’t need to convince you, babe. The idea is solid. That’s straight-up Hale brand petty ingenuity right there.”

“Well, a little less Talia and Sam and a little more Uncle Peter.” Derek says, knowing his dad would have a kind word and a thoughtful answer.

“Uncle Peter was always the idea man, though! This plan is totally Peter-approved; it gets you laid and you get to stick it to some punk kid. Hell, I’ll even pay you for the flowers you deliver to him the next day! And by the by, totes unrelated, I think I’m going to need to have you become the official flower vendor of the Beacon Hills Municipality and the Beacon County Correctional Co-op. We’re gonna start bringing in flowers weekly, more during special events and holidays.”

“Umm.. I guess that’s fine. Wait, are you even able to approve tha-”

“Of course, Derek! I’m the boss over everyone, only Braeden is over me and she’s the fucking Sheriff.”

“Beacon’s police system is weird. You’re weird. This plan is weird!”

“You can do it! Later, baby bro, love you!”

Laura hangs up before Derek can say _I love you_ or _Fuck off_ so he hangs up the phone and starts sorting out rose petals.

It was a terrible idea, right? But also, maybe the best idea ever? Derek really did like Stiles, but he couldn’t reconcile this alleged other side of him. If he wanted to purge Stiles from his system, he should just fuck him and be done. If Stiles did have this sinister side then it would probably show up in some disappointing way in bed, or worst case scenario, Derek will wake up to a bouquet on his doorstep.

He suddenly fills with rage at the idea. That Stiles would possibly go to another florist to get the flowers he was going to dump Derek with… or the fucking _grocery store_.

He was going to do it! He wouldn’t lose much, he was sure of that. Someone as careless as Stiles evidently was, probably would look at Derek and make the same assumptions everyone else did. That he was some macho power top, and when Derek did reveal he liked to bottom, he’s sure Stiles would treat him with kids gloves and be too fragile and shit. Either way it’s a win-win, Stiles would teach Derek something so super freaky that Derek would be too embarrassed to ever talk to him again, or he would be tepid and underperform and Derek wouldn’t want to fuck him again anyway. And Derek would lose interest and there wouldn’t be enough outside the bedroom to keep them connected, right?

Derek sighs, he knows that’s not really true. Stiles is different. He and Derek actually have a lot in common and could talk for hours on end. Hell, he’s not even sure Stiles knows his last name, but Stiles does know his favorite color, his birthday, everything important. Dammit, why did he have to be such a slut?! No, Derek didn’t feel right resorting to slut-shaming, but he was more than a little hurt.

Because through all of the talk of this being win-win, the one thing that would be lost… would be Stiles. Maybe the flowers revenge would be just spiteful enough to take the sting away of losing a new friend, but Derek couldn’t even take solace in that, because with the way he knew they were starting to feel for each other, there’s no way they could have remained just friends for very much longer.

Derek picks up the phone and begins dialing. Ultimately he’s protecting himself, right?

“Stilinski floral delivery.” Normally Derek would laugh and smile brightly at the voice on the other end, but this time he bristles a bit.

“That’s my line isn’t it?” He says, recovering quickly and even smirking as he hears Stiles’ chuckle on the other end.

“Hey, I’m supposed to be the detective here, right Derek? Speaking of which, I actually have a training I have to get to in a few, I’m so behind, but I can spare a few for my favorite florist.”

“I want to go on a date.” Derek says bluntly. He hears Stiles choke on something.

“Oh shit! I mean, yeah! Hell yeah, oh my god, really? Shit, am I blowing this? You caught me so off guard, damn you, Derek!”

“Calm down, deputy, holster your weapon!” Derek quips and he hears Stiles laugh brightly.

“Shit, if I could get away with a desk pop -you know, fire a couple in the air- I would. Umm, yeah, of course I wanna take you out on a date. We can go to _Duke’s_ , I hear the steak is awesome!”

“That sounds great. I’ll pick you up.”

“For real? In the Camaro?”

“Yeah, is that okay?”

“It’s more than okay, D. I have… thoughts about that Camaro. Awesome thoughts that I’ll tell you during our awesome date!”

Derek’s mind sizzles a little bit thinking about Stiles’ _thoughts_ , but then he shakes the cobwebs from his head and remembers he’s on a mission. A mission to fuck and flower and then forget the dastardly deputy of Beacon Hills.

“Derek, I can’t wait. This has been a long time coming and I’m just… I’m just really happy.”

“Yeah, me too, Stiles.”

Derek hangs up a little later and sighs.

This was the right thing to do.

Right?

 

 

**

Stiles hangs up the phone and throws both hands in the air like a damned fool!

“Whoo! Boyd, get your ass over here and high five me!”

Boyd, who normally just ignores Stiles’ flailing outbursts, sees the look of elation on Stiles’ face and walks over to give him one. Stiles can hardly believe it!

“Oh my god, I can’t believe that happened! My journal is gonna be _lit_ tonight!”

“I’ve never seen you this happy before, man. And no offense, but I have no idea what you have to be happy about, so whatever gets this smile on your face? Deserves a high five.” Boyd explains before turning back to his paperwork.

Stiles would feel offended, but he understands completely. He’s developed a resting bitch face due to Laura’s shenanigans and he’s been exhausted while trying to catch up on all the training he missed during pageant week.

But pageant week was over and dammit he had a date with Derek… the florist guy! Shit, he was really gonna have to learn his last name. He’d put it on the list of questions he would ask during their date!

“Stilinski, get in here _now_!”

Stiles spins around and sees Laura hovering in the entrance to Morrell’s office, half waving him in and the other half on her phone. Stiles stands and walks towards the office.

“Have a seat, Stiles. We need to talk about your performance.”

“No, Laura, I think I’ll stand.”

Now, normally getting a date was not enough to deem Stiles “A new man” and give him the strength and courage to tell off his boss, but dammit there was something about that day. He’d woken up to the sun shining and the birds chirping, everyone in the office was in a good mood and the sandwich girl brought them all free food. Then he gets a call from Derek asking him out and Stiles is on the track for some excellent surf and turf and for the first time in a long time Stiles felt like _finally_ he was back in control.

So Laura could take whatever bullshit issues she had with his performance (that _she_ caused!) and shove them up her free loving ass. He’d go work security at the mall if he had to, he was mad as hell and he wasn’t going to take it anymore!

“Dammit, Laura! I’m a good cop and I’m going to make an amazing detective, so you find someone else to do your bidding, you hear me? No more! I’m done! Finit! Caput! It’s _ovah_!” Laura… well, she wasn’t really responding, but she also wasn’t yelling or firing him so he’s counting it as a win. He’s gassed up and ready to bust some heads!

“What you’ve been doing is despicable! And pulling me along is not okay! I’m worth more than just being your chaperone and body man! I came here to protect and serve the general public and dammit that’s what I’m going to do! Do I make myself clear!?”

Laura… shrugs.

“Yeah, sure Stilinski. I was just going to tell you I was going to give you a commendation for all the extra work you put in last week. I’m not going to need you anymore so you can finally go and suck training’s dick and let protect and serve fuck you in the ass like you want.”

“What? A commendation?” Yes, Stiles was pointedly refusing to acknowledge anything else that came out of Laura’s mouth, “that’s awesome! High five me, Cap! I’m on a roll!”

Laura looks at Stiles’ hand in the air disgusted, but finally shrugs and puts her hand up. Stiles’ slaps it gleefully, salutes and heads for the door.

“Hey, Stiles, I wasn’t lying when I said you and I would make a fucking sexy two backed beast-”

“Never in a million years you sloppy-”

“Easy, _Shitlinski_ , I’m still your boss!” Laura yells after him half-heartedly.

“Yes, ma’am! Stiles grabs his shacket and heads towards the door, throwing Boyd a wink who is looking at him curiously. Yes, it’s the middle of the workday, but Stiles is leaving early, he’s got a date to get ready for!


	5. Chapter 5

**

Derek ties his tie and takes a look at himself in the mirror before tearing off the tie and going back into his closet. He should look good, right? If he was going to impress Stiles… in order to dump him later, he should look really good. He eyes a mesh black crop top he’s got in the back of his closet.

He settles on a maroon henley and a pair of skinny fit black jeans.

 

**

 

Stiles runs a comb through his hair and considers the gel in it. He’d wanted to go for the whole bed head thing, but now it was too shiny and what if Derek wanted to run his hands through it later? He smiles to himself and sticks his head under the faucet.

**

Derek drives into Beacon Hills to Stiles’ place. He’s renting a cute duplex that’s near the station. Derek thinks about stopping by the PD to get a pep talk from Laura, but decides against it. For no reason in particular other than knowing a conversation with Laura is just never a good idea. Hell, it’s what’s lead him this far; about to fake a date, to hate-fuck a dude and then flower dump him. Shit, what was Derek doing?

***

Stiles can hear the Camaro approach. The gorgeous vintage hum rumbles through him and he thinks about how hot the hood can get. He’s got a blanket he could spread out for Derek to lay on while Stiles… okay, he’s getting a little ahead of himself, well, a _lot_ ahead of himself, but he’s running off of confidence and it feels good! Tonight was going to be a great night!

***

Tonight was going to be a fucking disaster. Derek can feel it. He’s going to crack. He should have stopped and talked to Laura, she would have told him again how awesome this plan was and he would be free to get some and then fuck off. But he knows, he _knows_ he’s going to want Stiles for more than one night. Even if Stiles doesn’t want him, or _just_ him. Fuck, maybe he should leave?

“Not even gonna come and knock on the door, Der? Is chivalry really dead?”

Derek snaps out of his thoughts and turns to look at Stiles who is leaning into his passenger window and smiling that cute half smile of his. Damn, he looks like a fucking snack. He’s wearing a dark charcoal sweater that looks just as soft as his hair, and tight, yet fitted black slacks. Derek wants to rip them off, even more so when Stiles stands and Derek gets a nice eyeful of his bulge. He may lick his lips.

“Sorry, Stiles, I was just a bit out of sorts, I have a message from the shop and I was wondering what it could be about.” Derek reaches over and unlocks the door and Stiles gets in, running his fingers over the dash interior like it’s a piano. Derek can’t help but track the movement.

“Everything okay? Do you need to check it?”

Derek shakes his head, suddenly resolved, “nah, it can wait.” And so could Laura’s stupid plan. He was going to go out to dinner with Stiles, and maybe they’d fuck or maybe they’d wait until next time. And he was going to ask Stiles about the accusations and there was sure to be some wacky explanation like a long lost twin brother named Stuart or some bullshit like that.

For once Derek wasn’t going to fuck it up and he was going to have fun.

 

**

They do have fun. A blast even! Each one of the men trade stories about everything from family members (Derek didn’t name names, but he could write a book out of the shit his dad and uncle got away with when they were kids) to botched dates (Stiles tells Derek a doozy involving a golf club, a new definition for ‘hole in one’ and the revocation of a golf scholarship for his soon to be ex-girlfriend). The two laugh jovially as they knock back glass after glass of signature cocktail and down the decadent delights on their plates.

“You gotta taste this!” Stiles says, holding a crab puff out for Derek to try. Derek eyes him carefully before grabbing Stiles’ wrist and slowly wrapping his mouth around Stiles’ fingers, tonguing the succulent morsel into his mouth and ending it with a little kiss to Stiles’ fingertip.

Stiles excuses himself to go to the bathroom.

While he’s gone, Derek decides to check the message from his shop. He’s having such a great time, that even though he’s sure whatever it was could wait until morning, he was actually hoping to spend most of the morning with Stiles and thinks it might be better to check it now.

“ _Uhh, hello? I got some flowers from here and they said ‘thanks for the oppor-poon-ity”? Dude, what kind of place are you running that that’s on the card? Are these from the lazy cop I fucked? I swear, I’m going down there tomorrow and-”_ The message cuts off and Derek’s eyes widen when he checks the time on the message.

4pm in the afternoon?!? Derek and Stiles had just made their date around 1pm? He went out and found a dude, fucked him and then flowered him by 4pm? Shit, was he with the dude when he called Derek? How _could_ he? What the fuck, Stiles?

“I cannot wait for this steak! I always get on my dad about eating meat, but I could eat it all day! I’m insatiable when it comes to good meat, you know? I never get tired of it!” Stiles has returned and is thumbing through the menu, his eyes lighting up at the different cuts available.

Derek steams.

The plan is back on.

“Let’s get out of here.” He says with a tense smile. One could even mistake it for smoldering. Stiles eyes go wide.

“Oh, are you not… I mean, the steaks are great here, are you not hungry?”

“I’m starving, Stiles.” Derek says before he leans forward, knowing the candle light is going to catch his eyes in a way that make them look like glossy honey dew melon. “Let’s go.”

***

Stiles nods dumbly while motioning to the waiter to bring the check. He does chance a longing glance at the meat cart, but soon puts it out of his mind when he looks back at Derek’s eyes glistening in the candle light. The meat could wait.

Derek drives them back to Stiles’ place and he hopes above hope that he cleaned well enough. He’d spent all afternoon making sure his house looked like a person lived there and not a college kid with mediocre laundry skills. As they drove they sat quietly, but it seemed like neither one wanted to break the tension between them just yet. The _sexual_ tension. Because that’s definitely what was happening. And it definitely wasn’t too soon, right? Stiles figures that the last six months between them were kind of like a pre-date and that meant sex on the first date wasn’t slutty as much as it was… _inevitable_. Hell, Stiles guesses he could ask Derek to move in with him and it wouldn’t be too soon.

Not that he would do that.

He’s just speaking hypothetically.

“C’mon deputy, get this thing open.” Stiles snaps from his thoughts and has to jog to catch up with Derek is who standing on his porch, looking delicious under the house light. Like the late night snack Stiles gets when he’s off shift. Damn, Stiles thinks he could get used to this as he fumbles to get his keys out of his pocket. He only has two keys on the damned ring, but as most of the blood in his body is now flowing south, he’s working against a stacked deck.

“May I?” Derek asks sultrily. Stiles swallows and nods as Derek deftly takes the key and opens the door. All without taking his eyes off of Stiles. Shit, Stiles had gotten to know flower nerd Derek, this sexy James Bond Derek? Stiles liked it, but it also kind of scared him.

He liked that too.

***

Derek can’t believe he actually ever liked Stiles. Well, more like, he can’t believe that Stiles keeps his dickish Rhett Butler/Stanley Kowalski side so in check. He’s this dorky little small town deputy by day and lecherous heartbreaker by night. Derek is disgusted by Stiles! But also delighted?

He notices how clean yet homey Stiles’ place is. And he sees a vase on the table with a bouquet that Derek had made for him the week before. It was a simple yet elegant tropical mixture that featured purple orchids set amidst exotic palm leaf and bamboo. It was Derek’s own design and Stiles had gushed over it. Derek looked at it smiling while Stiles went into the kitchen and then came back with two glasses and a bottle of red.

“Those flowers still blow me away, Derek. And I’m glad I didn’t accidentally deliver them away this time!” Stiles grins and Derek’s heart drops. Dammit, he keeps forgetting that he’s supposed to be mad at Stiles! Focus, Derek! _Fuck, Flower, Forget him_. He grins.

“You’ve been able to keep them for a while. I figured your schedule may be too packed.” Derek says, taking a glass from Stiles as he pours another.

“I love them! All I ever do is work really so after a long shift I’ll come home and grab a book or pour a drink and just relax and look at my flowers.”

“Really? You don’t get up to any other nocturnal activities?” Derek asks, trying to keep the incredulity reined in. Stiles’ shrugs.

“Yeah, between all the hours working and then making up for all the training I was missing, plus the deliveries and hanging out with you, the only time I saw my place was to eat and sleep. Your flowers gave me something nice to come home to. Oh!” Stiles head snaps in Derek’s direction like he’d just slipped up and was catching himself in a mistake. Derek had been listening (and was only mildly distracted by the movement of Stiles’ Adam’s apple while he talked) but couldn’t think of anything that Stiles said to cause this revelation.

“I didn’t mean to imply that I didn’t like spending time with you! That was actually the highlight of my day! I mean it is! It will still be, though hopefully I won’t have to see you that much any longer.”

Derek bristles and Stiles’ eyes go wide again.

“Shit! That’s not what I meant! I mean… I had to spend a lot of time driving my boss around for errands, but I think that’s done.”

“Driving your boss around for errands? Is that what you’re calling it? And if so… why?”

Stiles cocks his head (adorably, Derek struggles not to add) and looks at Derek confused.

“I don’t know what that means? Is that what I’m calling wha-”

Derek shuts Stiles up by shoving his tongue in the young man’s mouth and Stiles shuts Derek’s mind off by sucking on said tongue and pulling Derek in close to him. By his ass.

Damn, he was a good kisser.

_Dammit_!

***

Derek’s tongue was better than any steak, Stiles surmises as he sojourns through Derek’s mouth and allows his hands to map the landscape. Oh hell, when he was in the academy he was taught not to get too handsy while frisking, but he couldn’t help the prods and squeezes he gave Derek’s body as his tongue chased the taste of tart wine down Derek’s gullet.

Derek pulls back and grabs the glasses of wine, breathing heavily and downing the rest of both. He sets them and the bottle to the side and then he comes back, pushing Stiles on to the couch and straddling him confidently.

Stiles has no idea what he did to deserve this. He thought for a while that maybe Mother Universe had forgotten about little old him and was just going to let some demon woman ruin his life, but no. Here he was, with the man of his dreams. An angel, the patron saint of roses, and he was saving him.

Derek saved him.

***

Derek was going to _ruin_ him! How dare he be this good, and- and _taste_ this good? And his fucking smell! Good clean soap and some sweat and the drinks from dinner and a lingering cologne scent that wasn’t too strong.

And when Derek straddled him on the couch he didn’t cower like a little baby, he wrapped Derek in those deceptively long and toned arms and Derek felt… _safe_? Loved? Comforted? And Derek wonders if this is how Stiles is like for all the people he fucks around town when he’s “running errands for his boss”? He wonders if he’s this caring and this considerate.

The crazy thing is that Stiles’ hands seem desperate as they roam over Derek’s body. Like they haven’t touched anyone intimately in a long while and they craved Derek. Stiles’ cock, hard and sure even through his slacks seems to be a divining rod calling to Derek’s thirst to quench it. Even Stiles’ hips seemed to beckon as they thrust up to rub the two mens groins together and the sound Stiles made at every contact couldn’t be described as anything less than famished.

Stiles’ entire sense of self wanted Derek and Derek loved being wanted. Dammit, he had to hurry this along or he was going to change his mind again and then where would he be? The willing yet long-suffering boyfriend of a sex addict, that’s where!

Derek gets up and grabs Stiles’ hand pulling him up. Drawn to him like a magnet, Stiles wraps his arms around Derek again and begins sucking at his neck while squeezing his ass.

“Bedroom, where?”

Stiles doesn’t answer, just drives them in the general direction of the hall all while kissing and groping and squeezing every part of Derek he could reach.

“Derek!” He yells out, apropos of nothing, like it was just something he really wanted to say at that moment. Derek wonders if Stiles has any trouble keeping all the people straight. Does he call their names the way he called Derek’s. It feels so real and genuine in the moment, but Derek knows that Stiles is just a user, right? He couldn’t really like Derek and be sleeping all over town, much less love him. There’s no way.

***

Stiles Stilinski was in fucking _love_. He backs Derek up to his door and then stops, kissing him sweetly before they breach the threshold of their forever.

“Derek, you’re just… you’re amazing, there’s no other way to put that, and I want to show you how much you mean to me. I just wanna make sure that you’re completely good with going this far tonight.”

Derek is watching Stiles strangely, something between concern and amazement. Derek and Stiles can look each other in the eye, but common appearance would make it look like Derek was the bigger dude. And in his way he was, but Stiles was no shorty. He was strong and capable and something about Derek made Stiles just want to pamper him and take care of him. Maybe that’s what caused Derek’s shock? That Stiles wanted to take lead. Shit, he should clarify, just in case.

“I wanted to know what you thought about me taking lead tonight? I mean, I can bottom like a pro and I love it, don’t get me wrong, but -if you don’t mind- I’d really like to… you know… fuck the shit out of you?”

Derek chokes on nothing and coughs in Stiles’ face.

***

This mother _fucker_! He _wants_ to top? Derek was ready, okay? He’d prepared for this. They were going to go to the door and Stiles was gonna say some shit about having an itch that needed scratching and that itch was in his ass and Derek’s dick was the back scratcher that could reach it and yes, the metaphor may have gone off the hinges, but fuck it all that’s where Derek was at that moment! Off the fucking hinges!

He guesses he can see the irony, it’s not unusual for a dude to want to top, but most of his dates look at him and don’t even want to try. He remembers having to beg one dude and then said dude just laid under him, stiff as a board as Derek bounced up and down on his rod. Theo never called him back after that, and Derek wonders if he disappeared entirely.

But here was this tall, lithe motherfucker who wants to _take the lead_ , to… _fuck him shitless_? How was Derek supposed to deal with that?

No really, how? Because dammit, Derek was doing it, he just wasn’t sure if he was gonna make it out the other side.

He gathers himself and smooshes his mouth back on Stiles’ mouth before pulling them both into Stiles’ bedroom.

The next minutes are a blur for the two men. A good, super fun sexy blur for Stiles where he finds himself licking Derek’s asshole in one blink and then choking on his balls the next. It’s a confusing, frustrating, _best he’s ever had oh gods!_ kind of blur for Derek full of careful and tender love making spliced with just the right amount of brute force and pinning him down.

It was while Stiles had Derek’s head pinned to the bed and his ass in the air, slowly fingering him to oblivion, that Derek realizes the main difference between he and his sisters; he has too many feelings.

Really, for the Hale women, any discernible feelings at all were suspect, but Derek knew they each had their own way of showing love and affection. Derek’s ration of feelings seemed to lie on one side of the scale while his sisters and uncle lay on the other. It took a lot out of Derek to be callous and unfeeling and especially to someone he actually cared about, much less loved.

And fuck, he loved Stiles. He loved him so much he wanted to cry at more than the feeling of the tip of Stiles’ dick nudging slowly into him, splitting him wide as Stiles held his hips into place and sunk slowly into Derek. Into his heart, draped across his body like a blanket of love.

This was stupid, he was being stupid. He should just talk to Stiles about how he felt and maybe Stiles would get help? Maybe if Derek asked nicely, ‘ _please, Stiles, don’t fuck the entire municipality of Beacon Hills? Don’t make me an eskimo brother to everyone in the county!’_

“Yes, baby, I got you! You don’t have to beg, I’m going to take such good care of you.” Stiles says as he pushes Derek’s legs wider apart with his thighs and really begins to piston his hips in and out of Derek, his stroke deeper and more sure, grazing Derek’s prostate on every other push.

Shit, had Derek said that outloud? Was he begging? Was he this desperate that he’s making excuses for Stiles’ shitty behavior? He used him! He used his flowers and reputation and all to what end? To appease some floozies?

Damn, the more Derek thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded. Almost as ridiculous as how Stiles was still somehow hovering over him even though one hand was stroking Derek’s cock and the other was tugging at his balls and Stiles was still hitting his damned mark on every stroke and fuck it, there has to be an explanation! Derek loves him and he wants to be with him, but he knows he can’t give in fully without knowing the truth!

He loved Stiles and he could keep it to himself until he figured out what was going on. He just had to pep talk himself. C’mon Derek, don’t slip, yes, your brain is pretty much mush and you’re about to come so all bets are off in the coherency department, but you know better than to say-

“Oh fuck, I fucking love you Stiles!” Derek yells as he comes hard and then flops right in his expense on the bed. He nearly passes out and misses most of Stiles’ rambling.

“Oh shit, yes! Really? Me too!” Stiles says, pulling out of Derek, tossing the condom and jacking himself quickly, “And not in that _‘heat of the moment’_ way, but like in a very real way! Wait, was yours heat of the moment? Because that’s coo-”

Derek feels ribbons of cum hit his back and then Stiles’s drapes himself across the man, kissing his nape lightly.

“We can talk about it later, we have forever don’t we, Derek? Shit, I love you so much, what’s your ring size? Hell, what’s your last name?” Stiles then laughs to himself and gets up trudging to the bathroom. Derek hears the sound of water running and shortly Stiles comes back into the room with a warm wet towel. He feels Stiles start to wipe him down and it’s so soothing he falls into a deep, peaceful sleep.

He wakes up during the night and he’s wrapped around Stiles, the young deputy on his back with his arm securely around Derek. They’re both naked and Stiles is lightly snoring. Derek loves him, and he’s going to give him a chance. Even if it is the heat of the moment. Derek is going try.

He falls asleep and the next time he wakes up is to a kiss on the forehead. He opens his eyes and sees Stiles smiling brightly in his uniform.

“Of course we chose to have our first date in the middle of the work week. I got the early shift today, but you’re welcome to stay as long as you want. You can stay forever if you like.”

Derek’s nose scrunches and Stiles giggles, “Okay, we can talk about that later. There’s breakfast in the oven and the coffee is still hot. Have a great day and call me later for lunch, ok?”

Derek nods and Stiles kisses him again before leaving. A while later Derek rolls himself out of bed and goes on a hunt for his clothes. He finds a few disparate pieces before deciding he definitely needs some coffee before he continues. He sits down and munches on the bacon and eggs and toast Stiles left behind while downing a cup of piping hot joe.

He hears his phone buzz and he finally finds it under the end table in the living room. It’s Stiles, calling from work.

“Good morning. I wish I could have stayed and just watched you sleep? You’re so cute when you’re all sleepy. That sounded really creepy didn’t it?”

“Yes, but it’s okay.” Derek sighs into the phone. He wants this. Wants mildly creepy, corn ball Stiles calling Derek at his own home while he’s at work. Derek doesn’t know why he thinks it’s so romantic, but he does. But first… he’s got to know.

“Stiles… this is going to sound weird and all things considered it’s going to sound a bit untimely, but I need to ask you something and I really want you to tell me the answer.”

Derek can hear Stiles take a deep breath before answering, “Sure, Derek. Whatever you want to know. What’s up?” There’s caution in his voice, a bit of trepidation, but also concern. Derek’s heart is beating a mile a minute.

“The deliveries, Stiles. What were they for?”

***

Stiles couldn’t believe his luck. After a hellish last few months he was early to work, passed his quizzes with flying colors and got all of his paperwork filled in and filed. For once he felt fulfilled at his job and he owed it to two things: 1) His bitch of a boss wasn’t breathing down his neck every 20 minutes for some inane task, and 2) he had the most beautiful man in the world currently in his bed, resting after a night of the best sex Stiles has had in _years_.

His day was soaring and it continued to soar even as he called Derek, though Derek’s question about the deliveries did threaten a hiccup in the day.

“You mean, what did I use the flowers for?”

“Yes, Stiles. And please, I… it’s a long story, but I need to know.”

“Is everything okay?” Stiles wonders why Derek chose now to ask? He’s been toying with the idea of telling Derek, and ultimately he doesn’t think Derek would mind, especially after seeing how happy the recipients were, it’s just that…

It’s weird, right? That Stiles would pay out of pocket to try and assuage the reputation of his philandering boss? The crazy thing is that he didn’t even really hate Laura. Sure, she annoyed the holy hell out of him, but he mostly felt sorry for her, and he didn’t really feel it was his place to bad mouth her just for loving sex. The rest of it, sure, she was still an unlubed dildo of a human being, but Stiles was ready to move past her.

He did feel like he owed Derek an explanation, but he was still at work and knew the gossip mill was robust. He eyed Harley at reception who was pretending not to listen to him, and cleared his throat.

“Derek, let’s just say I got roped into something I didn’t feel like I could control and your flowers were a way that I could make peace with it. I wanted what was happening to stop, but it was overwhelming and all too consuming. I hated myself in the end and I lost time and money sure, but I also lost a lot of respect. Your flowers helped me get a little bit of that back.

“Don’t worry though, that’s all in the past now. No more crazy errands for the boss!”

“Stiles…”

Derek starts to say something, but Stiles’ attention is pulled by a guy in white boy dreads walking into the building. Stiles bristles as his eyes go straight to the cup of hot soup in his hand. The lid is already off and Stiles can smell the kimchi. What the fuck? Stiles hasn't seen this guy in months, what was he even doing here?

“Where is she?!” The guy points at Stiles and starts walking towards him. “Let me guess, she’s not here?! Did I pick an inoppor- _poon_ time!?”

“Fuck, Derek, I gotta go, love you, see you later!” Stiles hangs up just as he gets a cup of fermented cabbage to the chest.

***

Derek looks at the phone for a while after Stiles hangs up on him. He has no idea why Stiles had to go so quickly, but he’s still reeling from Stiles’ words.

He really _was_ a sex addict? And Derek’s flowers were the only thing that kept him from the shame of his lack of control over his libido? Derek felt like a pusher! Like a dealer of some sort, the human version of methadone, something to keep Stiles _just_ above the surface as he struggled not to fall apart.

Derek didn’t want that, not for himself and not even for Stiles.

Shit, he… he was going to go through with his plan. Not for revenge, and not even to be malicious, but really, as a way to rip off the band-aid. If Stiles could feel what it was like from the other side maybe it could convince him to have power over his demons and then he’d get real, actual help. And Derek would help with that. He’d burn the bridge just enough that he wouldn’t have to be the guy who longs after an addict and who knows? Maybe down the road after Stiles gets what he needs, he’ll be ready for Derek.

Derek sighs and looks around the duplex. If he was going to make a big statement, he was going to have to do it big. And he was going to need some help.


	6. Chapter 6

 

**

“Umm… Derek? Are you sure this is a good idea?” Boyd stood in the entrance of Stiles’ foyer and looks into the living room. It’s covered in flowers. Flowers in the fireplace, flowers sticking out of his windows and into every nook and cranny and surface in the room. There are flowers between his books, wedged in between the couch cushions, tucked between picture frames and even taped to his TV like vintage bunny ears.

 

* * *

**

* * *

 

“Yeah, seriously, Derek, I can’t tell if it’s a dream or a nightmare.” Erica says, wrapping her arms around Boyd. She’s smiling, she can’t deny it’s romantic, but something about this also seems… not well intentioned. “Besides, what with lover boy being a deputy and all, are you sure breaking into his house and assaulting him with flowers is the way to go?”

**

“Shut up, it’ll work!” Derek says, a bit more brusquely than intended, but this had taken a long time and he really wanted it to work. Cora watches him suspiciously.

He’d called her and told her to bring whomever she had at her disposal. She was at Lydia and Erica’s sandwich shop and convinced Erica to come and to bring Boyd along for some muscle. He was always a little restless on his day off, but even he had to question what was going on when Derek pulled up in a big white cargo van full of flora.

Derek really wouldn’t explain, just introduced himself formally -he’d met Lydia at family dinner, but had only really heard about Erica and Boyd, though both seemed nice. They got everything set and now Derek was just waiting for Stiles to show up.

Besides, he’d learned that Boyd was also a deputy at the Sheriff’s office and Derek thinks that maybe if he has his co-workers there to hold him accountable, the road to good sexual health would be easier to trod.

Throughout the afternoon though, Derek’s mood vacillated between annoyed and sad. Cora saw the change and pushed a little bit more.

“Derek, I know I call you flower fucker all the time, but you and this guy don’t actually have a flower kink do you? I mean, I guess it’s ok if you do, I’m happy you found someone to share that with, but I don’t get why we’re here? Are you also an exhibitionist? Again, no judgement though I do wonder why you’d be into your baby sister seeing your taint.”

“Dammit, Cora.” Derek says dejectedly, “I just want Stiles to see this and I just want to wish him the best.”

“Wait, this is for Stiles?” Boyd asks, stepping forward. Erica laughs.

“Yeah, babe, Derek and him are dating and are in love and shit.”

“We’re not-”

“Oh shit, how come I didn’t put this together!? You’re the flower guy Stiles is crazy over? Wait, this is his fucking house?”

“He doesn’t have a lot of pictures of himself in here, but there are some in the bedroom.”

“Why were you in the bedroom?” Derek looks accusingly at Erica and ignores the pointed look Boyd is giving him.

“You guys just had a date, right?” Boyd says, graciously changing the topic.

Derek shrugs, “Apparently he’s had a lot of dates.”

Boyd snorts and shakes his head.

“No, Derek. Bro legit high-fived me after he hung up with you. He hasn’t had a date in a _looooong_ time.”

Derek rolls his eyes, of course Stiles wouldn't consider them dates, “I guess they’re more like fixes.”

Boyd snorts again, “Naw man, Stiles doesn’t have time to get down like that. The boss rides his tail _hard_. I used to be her bitch until Stiles came in. I’m nice to him, but I can’t go back to that life. She’s a fucking monster, no offense, and Stiles is a saint, coming out of pocket all these months just to make her jump-offs feel special. Is that what this is? I can’t tell if it’s nice or mean, man. Stiles doesn’t deserve this, or it’s really sweet? What the fuck, dude?”

Derek’s heart catches in his chest as he turns in slow motion toward Boyd.

“Wait, _what?!_ What do you mean ‘ _no offense_ ’, who is his fucking boss?”

“C’mon Buns, you know Laura is over him.” Cora says, approaching him slowly like he’s a feral animal. Derek shakes his head.

“N-no! Laura offices at the PD!”

“Yeah, so when she needs to go to the Sheriff’s office she uses Lieutenant Morrell’s.” Cora explains, watching her idiot brother put the pieces together, “I knew she was fucking her way through the city, but I didn’t know she was fucking with Stiles to do it, or that Stiles was your flower guy?”

Boyd nods, knowingly, as though pulling a lost memory. “She pulls him from trainings to go take her on booty calls and act as security. Now I see he’s been sending them flowers, it’s pretty fucking smart. He’s trying to be a detective in three years, shit, he might just make it.”

“She’s such a feckless cunt.” Cora says… proudly?

“I kinda wanna be here when I grow up, but not exactly like her, like… her, but minus all the impending STI’s.” Erica muses as Boyd watches her lovingly shaking his head.

Derek wants to throw up.

“But how- she’s a captain, but shouldn’t she be a commissioner at the PD?”

“It’s Beacon fucking Hills, Buns, don’t overthink it.” Cora says, punching him lightly in the arm. “Just know that where there’s a Laura, there’s a lay.”

“Fuck!” Derek shouts, startling everyone. He begins to pace the room.

Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ , what was he doing? He had to clean this all up before Stiles came home, he was making a terrible, terrible-

**

“Oh my god, shhh- he’s here, hide!” Erica grabs Boyd’s hand and they hightail it to the kitchen. Cora follows at a slower pace, her eyes on Derek the entire time. His deer-in-headlights expression is enough to give her the gist of what’s happening and she shakes her head in disbelief as she walks to the kitchen. Derek hears the key jiggle in the door and feels his heart drop to the floor.

 

**

What.

The _fuck_.

Happened?

One moment Stiles was sitting at his desk, thanking the Heavens for his new lot in life and talking to his new boyfriend, and then suddenly, like a surprise rain storm, he was covered in scalding hot kimchi. Which is _not a fucking hot-served condiment!_ Stiles couldn't believe it and racked his brain trying to figure out what happened as he tried to scrub the smell from his skin and his uniform. He ends up having to use clothes from the lost and found since he took his normal set of emergency clothes home with him, confident he wouldn't need them again.

Maybe that was it? Too much hubris? He wasn’t humble enough in all the blessings he’d been given so the universe wanted to knock him down a peg? That sounded petty, even for the universe, to Stiles. He just knew he wanted to go home to his hot new boyfriend and just make love to him.

Stiles sighs. Derek really was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. He thinks about the incidental dating draught that Derek ended up being his oasis in. He’d wasted so much time going through the bullshit with Laura and having no one to really confide in or depend on. Derek was there for him though and he couldn’t wait to get home and see him.

He walks towards his door and hears a bunch of voices coming from his place. He slows and looks around. There’s a white van parked across the street that he’s never seen before. He sets down the paper bag with his soiled uniform inside and grabs his gun and badge before continuing to the house.

He opens the door quietly and stalks slowly through his foyer towards his living room. The smell hits him instantly, since it’s the first thing he can smell that’s not fermented cabbage. It’s sweet and earthy. He rounds the corner and sees into his living room… which is covered -floor to ceiling- in flowers.

There are hanging vines, and sprays and rose petals scattered artfully along the floor. He’s got peonies along his patio door, and lilies on his loveseat. Echinacea on his end table and oriental poppies on his ottoman. And in the middle of it all is his man. His wonderful, hilarious, thoughtful sweet man, standing with his hands up and staring down the barrel of Stiles’ gun.

“I can explain!”

**

Shit, this was it? Derek makes one mistake and now his lover was going to kill him and he’d bleed out amongst the flowers. It was poetic, Derek supposed, if he was going to go anyway it could be this. He’s surprised to find he’s more worried about his mom finding out his browsing history post mortem.

“Derek? What’s… what’s going on?” Stiles says cautiously, eyes darting wildly around the living room. He’s clearly confused and still catching up as he has his gun still very much pointed at Derek’s throat. Damn, his arms look good.

**

“You did this, Derek? How did you even know? I’ve been going through hell, and even today something weird happened but then I come home to _this_?” Stiles drops the gun and his shoulders slump as he bows his head. Derek… is fucked. He takes a step towards Stiles, stretching out his arms to comfort him, but the young man’s head shoots up and Derek can see tears glistening in his eyes.

“I love it!” Stiles then walks into Derek’s arms and kisses him hard and sweet. Derek gets lost a little bit, forgetting that there are still a lot of tangles in this web he’s weaved.

**

“Uggh, gross.” his dickish little sister says as she walks in from the kitchen. In an instant Stiles’ mouth is off of Derek and he’s got his gun pointed at Cora who just flips him off tepidly.

“Damn, Stilinski, show some chill.” Erica screeches as she hides behind Boyd who has a placating hand up while shaking his head. Stiles drops the weapon immediately and looks between the veritable strangers and Derek.

“What’s going on here?” He asks wildly, not fully holstering the gun, and clearly tense. Derek looks around the room for a place to hide, but all the good spots are covered with flowers!

“I love you!” He declares, throwing his hands in the air and making a kissy face which Stiles gladly obliges.

“Whoa, Buns, you’re fucking awful at deflecting.”

“Yikes! Didn’t you guys just go on your first date? Dropping the L word already?” Erica says as Boyd watches her with a cocked brow.

“You said it to me the first time I slept over.”

“That was in the heat of the moment!”

“Who are you?!” Stiles yells, breaking the couple out of their bubble. Derek attempts to interject.

“Umm… I love you and I wanted everyone to know. Everyone who was important to us?”

Derek… may not be operating at 100%. To be honest, he’s really stretching for 50% and if he’s perfectly honest, he’s probably still a little fucked out from the night before, and he never did get to finish his coffee. And now he’s high off of flower smell and fucking love for his ridiculous deputy, he just refuses to be held completely responsible is all. He’s got… _circumstances_. Factors that can completely explain Derek’s current mania.

“Derek, we just met you like… today.” Erica says, indicating to her and Boyd. Cora shakes her head, “my idiot big brother and his idiot lover.”

**

“Wait, you’re the sandwich shop girl, right? You work with Lydia?” Stiles asks, waving his gun towards Erica. Derek reaches out and pushes down Stiles’ arm which finally gets him to just put the damned thing away. Erica nods, and is about to say something, but Stiles interrupts her.

“Thank you for coming to this… whatever the the hell it is. I’m sorry, I’ve been off my game lately, I’m so fucking exhausted, but you’re always nice when you’re dropping off Boyd’s sandwiches. Also, I’m glad you’re here so I can tell you directly, stop selling fucking hot kimchi!”

“Hot kimchi? Isn’t that usually served cold? Is that what that smell in your hair is?” Derek says, sniffing Stiles’ hair and wondering why he was craving some bibim guksu.

“It’s awful, Derek!” Stiles says, pouting. Erica shrugs.

“I don’t know man, the flakes love it.”

“I love you too, you know?” Stiles kisses Derek’s cheek and then looks into his eyes sweetly, “and I really am glad we’re making it hashtag living room gardens official full of people that we both apparently only slightly know! Who are you?”

Stiles points at Cora who is still flipping him off while scrolling through her phone. He’s watching her suspiciously, like there’s something uncannily familiar about her...

“Uhh, that’s my sister, Cora. Cora, this is Stiles, my lover.” The word tastes strange in Derek’s mouth, but mostly because it feels like it’s been wanting to get out and more of its brothers want to escape with it. Derek suddenly has this overwhelming urge to shout his love for Stiles from the rooftop. He looks around the spectacle of the room and surmises that only love could motivate something this crazy. Love, or a severe chemical imbalance. Maybe a bit of both. Derek smiles.

“Wait, you’re dating Lydia, aren’t you? Lydia said she was dating the Captain’s little sister, and you’re also Derek’s little sister which would make you-” Stiles points at Derek. Derek’s eyes go wide as Stiles takes a step back shaking his head.

“Did…. did you _know_? Is this… are you _mocking_ me?”

Derek shakes his head and puts his arms out so hopefully Stiles will step back into them.

“No! I mean, yes? I mean, I just found out, wait, let me explain-”

“Wait, Stiles you’re just putting together that Derek is Laura’s brother? The last name didn’t tip you off?” Erica asks from the sidelines. Derek looks at her like she’s lost her damned mind and Cora’s eyeroll is so epic Derek thinks it’s a wonder she doesn’t pass out.

“I never knew his last name!” Stiles yelps as though realizing how strange it is that he never asked, “the heart doesn’t need a last name to fall in love!”

“The heart doesn’t, but the background check does! I thought all you cops ran full profiles. Boyd found a warrant out for me, we had to cancel our trip to Disneyland!”

Boyd closes his eyes and rubs the bridge of his nose.

“In Stiles’ defense-”

“Thank you, Boyd!” Stiles throws his hands in the air before pacing back and forth in one of the few spots not covered by flowers in the room.

“He’s a newbie and Laura kept him under her thumb. He hasn’t even learned the system yet much less how to fully abuse it for personal romantic gain.”

“Yeah, if I had I would have just hunted down her jilted lovers and like, threatened to write them tickets for assault by hot kimchi. I think she’s on to me, the guy said something about ‘ _oppor-poon-ity_ ’ which is totally a Laura thing to say. I swear, she’s put me through hell these last few months, the only plus side was meeting you.” Stiles says, grabbing Derek’s hand and squeezing it.

“Stiles, I honestly had no idea.”

“You didn’t? Then why are all these flowers here?” Stiles asks, looking at Derek confused. Derek blanches as Boyd shrugs and tickles Erica’s nose with a rogue daisy and Cora watches the two of them adroitly.

“Uhh, well I knew, but-” Derek could talk his way out of this.

“Wait, so this was a joke?” Stiles looks so hurt.

“No! I-” Derek could _not_ talk his way out of this.

“It’s a gesture, Stiles.” Cora thankfully interjects. Derek sighs with relief as Cora continues, “Derek is is all about plant’s rights and he wanted you to see flowers as a thing of beauty. An expression of his love and not Laura’s loose vajay.”

“Aww… gross,” Stiles says, frowning at Cora before smiling a smitten grin at Derek, “but super sweet, boo!”

“I just found out what she was doing and this was… yeah, that gesture shit that Cora talked about.” Derek finally says, mostly back online. Cora throws a peony at him.

“Derek you feckless c-”

“And I’m going to make sure she pays you back for every penny you spent on the flowers!”

“Really?” Stiles says, his eyes wide. “Because I have receipts Derek, for gas and time off too. It’s been really expensive, dude. I mean, it’s worth it in a way, some of the people’s faces after they realized she’d ghosted them? It was rough man, seeing them light up after seeing your flowers made it better. And I didn’t have to keep buying new uniforms. Though this latest one is toast, especially since it’s been outside in a paper bag all this time.”

Stiles looks forlornly towards the door but then shrugs.

"Well it's definitely a creative gesture, hon.  This made everything better."  Stiles squeezes Derek's hand, "Thank you, Derek."

"You're welcome, Stiles."

**

Stiles kisses Derek on the cheek and then looks sheepishly around the room again. 

“I love you, Derek, but your sister’s a-”

“Terrible fucking bitch, I know.” Derek says, pulling Stiles into another embrace and petting him lightly.

“Oh come on now, she’s not so bad.” Cora interjects half heartedly on their older sister’s behalf. Through her actions she’s promoting sex positivity and inadvertently boosting the local economy by promoting small business. And if she hadn’t fucked with Boyd first, he wouldn’t have met Erica while he waiting for his dry cleaning at the place next door.” Erica looks at Boyd who nods and kisses his lady. Cora laughs, “She’s a pioneer, she just also happens to be oversexed and crazy, but still, there’s some good bones there.”

“And she’s fucking hot. You better be glad you got to me first, babe!” Erica says, giggling and kissing Boyd. Cora grins and then walks over to Derek and Stiles, slapping the former lightly in the face before using the same hand to point at Stiles.

“I tend to be the more level headed of the bunch. Laura is hard, like Papa Bear, she takes after our Uncle Peter, I’m pretty much in the middle and Derek is a big ole soft Mama Bear like our dad. But don’t get it fucking twisted, we’re all still bears! _Handle With Care_ Shitlinski, or I’ll maul you.”

Derek can see Stiles trying to work out that metaphor in his head while Cora rounds up everyone and points a path to the door.

“C’mon troops, let’s go. We’ll let these dorks flower bang it out.”

Everyone waves and leaves and as the door closes, Derek turns back to Stiles who is looking at a card left in one of the vases. Shit, Derek had completely forgotten about the cards!

Stiles bursts out laughing and hands Derek the card. He smiles, remembering this one in particular.

_Sali por cigarros..._

Stiles runs and jumps into Derek’s arms, planting little pecs all over his face. He leans back slightly, Derek gripping him firmly by his hips and strips off his shirt.

“C’mon, let’s get some pollen in some weird places.”

Derek smiles, throwing Stiles on a couch covered with candytufts.


	7. Epilogue

**

Derek eyes blink open slowly and he grins, sitting up and looking around his new room. Well, his and Stiles’ new room. In their condo they’ve just started leasing together. It’s equidistant between Derek’s shop and the Sheriff’s station. Even though they live in California, so there’s no snow to be seen, the air still brings wafts of Christmas to Derek’s nose. From the evergreen of the fir in their living room, to the smells of wintergreen bouquets and cinnamon treats in their kitchen. He can hear Stiles humming in the kitchen as he bakes.

He wasn’t kidding when he said he was good at it. Stiles claims he never had the patience for culinary school, but Derek knows he’s gained fives pounds at least from giving into Stiles’ baked goods. The good thing is that Stiles’ workout plan (read: fucking) helps him keep his weight in check though Stiles says he wouldn’t mind if Derek got a little more junk in his trunk. Derek blushes every time.

He gets up and pads to the kitchen where Stiles is rolling a makowiec for desert later. He can smell the challah that Stiles prepared toasting in the oven and sees remnants of the babka they ate last night.

“Happy birthday, my love. And good morning!” Stiles says, kissing Derek with his flour covered hands out to the side. Derek laughs and wraps Stiles arms around him, pulling them both back until Derek is laid out in a dusting of flower on the table.

Stiles laughs and smiles fondly, flicking a speck of flour from Derek’s cheek and kissing the tip of his nose.

“You want me to roll you up, make you my Christmas treat?”

Derek nods and kisses Stiles again, each kiss getting more and more heated. Stiles wraps Derek’s legs around his waist and is about to use one of their chairs for leverage when there’s a frantic knock at their door.

Both men sigh and giggle before getting up as the knocks get more persistent.

“C’mon you dicks, it’s freezing out here!”

It’s Laura, at 8am Christmas morning, because of course it is.

Derek scurries back to his room to put on pants while Stiles opens the door.

“It’s about time, I really hope I interrupted fucking, please tell me I did.” Laura admonishes as she waddles into the house.

Yes, waddles. Laura is _very_ pregnant.

“Hi Laura, Merry Christmas.”

“More like merry dick-mas for you two, amerite? You get that birthday booty out of the way yet? You’re not going to have a lot of time today.”

Derek wraps his arms around Stiles as he comes back into the kitchen, as though protecting him from the hurricane that is his crazy sister.

Stiles chuckles, runs his hand through Derek’s hair and kisses his forehead.

“I can’t believe you grew up with that and still thought it was me who was banging everyone in town!”

Yes, eventually, once Derek knew they were settled and Stiles wouldn’t try to admit him into the local sanitarium, Derek did come clean about… well, everything.

“ _Wow, that’s… weird. Still worth it though._ ” Stiles said simply before nestling back into Derek’s arms and falling asleep.

Derek wishes he could say it was completely organic, but a lot had happened to facilitate him coming clean.

After kimchi guy hot potted Stiles, apparently he went and found Hayden. They knew of each other through local similar interests and kimchi guy… or Brett as he was later introduced, found out that Laura jilted Hayden too. Together they came up with a plan and Hayden called Laura for another date.

Laura tried to re-enact Stiles’ method with the flowers, but she was terrible when it came to stealth (or couth, or tact, or anything else even slightly or tangentially related). She got caught by Hayden and Brett dropping off flowers and they reeled her in to talk to some sense into her.

It’s still fuzzy to Derek how that talk coalesced into a thruple in which Laura and Hayden were carrying their and Brett’s children, but Derek has never been one to question the ways of the heart.

All he knows is Laura has been nearly tolerable even though she’s begun to smell like three day deodorant and kimchi. It’s a fair trade off since she’s being actively preoccupied from ruining their lives. With her new focus she was even able to wrangle a parole hearing for their Uncle Peter. Derek guesses that’s a good thing.

“I can’t believe you two dumpster fires got together because of me!” Laura says, perched on one of the counter stools watching Derek and Stiles with what Derek guesses is the closest she’s ever come to affection in her eyes.

Derek kisses Stiles’ neck and nibbles on his lobe.

“I love you.”

Stiles giggles before turning fully into Derek’s arms.

“Oh my god, you Hales are fucking ridiculous.”

Laura, completely intrusive and uncaring, cackles, “Say what you want, future bro, but you’re about to become one of us. I know there’s a ring in here somewhere isn’t there? Derek, you didn’t hide it in the babka did you? You fucking doink.”

“Fuck, Laura, you’re the fucking worst!” Derek says, giving over to pedantic sibling bickering.

“What? I made _LOVE_ happen!” Laura insists, picking off a piece of the babka and shoving it in her mouth before Derek can pull it away.

“You make ulcers happen!” Stiles says, unable to keep the grin from his face, “Hey, since you’re here -for some reason- answer me something that I never really go clarification on.”

“Shoot!” Laura says as she snatches another piece of cake. She motions to Derek to get her some milk and throws in a belly rub for extra motivation. Derek signs a defeated sigh, he already knows this baby was gonna be the end of him, and goes to the fridge to pour her a glass.

“Why did you tell Derek to fuck, flower and forget me? For all your ‘ _made love happen_ ’ bullshit, it seemed like you were trying to keep us apart.”

Laura takes a big gulp from her glass and ponders.

“Why did I keep you apart? Shit, my baby brain is all fucked up.”

“Don’t blame your _Memento_ swiss cheese brain on the baby!” Derek insists. He’s still trying to figure out a way to ensure the only trait the baby gets from its mom are her cheekbones.

“Oh yeah! It’s because you called me a bitch boss! And I was in my feelings that day.”

“Well, Laura,” Stiles says, casually nibbling on a piece of her cake, “You are a bitch, boss.”

“I’m a boss _bitch_ and don’t you forget it!” Laura yells, causing Derek to roll his eyes and go and open the door.

“Get the fuck out, boss bitch, we’ll see you this afternoon at Cora and Lydia’s.”

Laura stands and gives Stiles and Derek big hugs and they both rub her belly for luck.

“Bye, you cocks! I’ll see you later.” Laura flips the double birds and walks outside. Derek closes the door and leans against it for reinforcement, in case she accidentally left something.

Stiles watches him, the same content grin on his face and walks towards him, leaning him even further into the door. Derek can feel the knob on his ass and he doesn’t mind a bit.

“Look, I know there’s more than a little craziness around the way we started.”

“A little, Derek? You were going to use flowers as a weapon against me!”

“Only for a little while! And then they were a tool to help you.”

“With my rampant sex addiction?”

“Uggh, can we not?” Derek pleads, but Stiles is already shaking his head.

“Oh no, boo, I’m going to be dragging you with this for the rest of both of our lives. Our children’s children will carry this story into the next millenia. This is our legacy, accept it.” Stiles punctuates this statement with little kisses to Derek’s cheeks. Derek smiles and sighs.

“Thank you for putting up with all this bullshit with me and my dick slit sisters.”

“Well, like Laura said,” Stiles mumbles against Derek’s pout, “I’ll be a Hale myself someday.”

Derek grins and closes his eyes, laying his head back on the door.

“Yeah.”

“And you’ll be a Stilinski.” Stiles says, nipping at Derek’s Adam’s apple and pinching his side.

“Yeah, that’s what your dad was sure to tell me.”

“Oh really, you talked to my dad?”

“I did, he shook my hand in a vice grip and called me son.”

Stiles pokes him in the chest, but Derek keeps his eyes closed.

“When the hell did you go see my dad? When did you fucking go to Arizona?”

“Last weekend when you had that conference in Portland. I wanted to go and meet him in person and talk to him about marrying you.”

At this Derek lifts his head and opens his eyes, he can see Stiles’ tear filled glistening browns, glowing at him with all the love in his heart. It was a lot.

“Oh really,” Stiles asks, his coolness belying his body’s natural reactions, “what did he say?”

“Well, he said you’re a grown ass man capable of making your own decisions, but if you decided to say yes, he wouldn't be completely against it.”

Stiles nods and Derek nods and they both stand there nodding and grinning like idiots until Stiles speaks.

“That’s funny, because your mom said the same thing.”

Derek’s brow furrows, and a tear spills out of Stiles’ eye down his cheek.

“I took a detour through Lake Oswego on the way back and went and talked to her. She said I was lovely and she’d be happy to have me as part of the family.”

Now Derek was crying.

“Shit, really?”

Stiles nods, now a blubbering mess as he buries his face in Derek’s shoulder. Derek pulls him back.

“Stiles?”

“Yeah, bear?”

“Will you marry me?”

“Only if you’ll marry me back.”

“Hell yeah!”

“Hell fucking _yes_!” And Stiles kisses Derek until they both run out of air, and then they kiss again.

Derek looks at the babka, “shit is there really a ring in there?” Stiles laughs brightly and then pulls Derek from the door.

“Not quite, it’s actually-” Stiles opens the door and there stands Laura holding two large Christmas baskets filled with wonderful wintery greens and a ring hanging from each handle.

Stiles takes the baskets, kisses Laura sweetly on the cheek and then slams the door in her face, causing her to cackle. Derek looks briefly at the door, but then follows Stiles into the living room where Stiles is unhooking the rings from the basket. He hands one to Derek and gets down on both knees. Derek joins him.

“Derek Samuel Hale, you’ve made my life more beautiful since the day we’ve met and I can’t wait to meet each new day with you in my heart and by my side.”

“Mieczyslaw Claudius Stilinski,-”

“Damn, that should _not_ be sexy.”

“It’s really not.”

“Hush and keep going.”

“You’ve zigged where I thought you would zag and you’ve taken me right with you. I didn’t think I would find someone that fits me so well-”

“Has it really been that hard to find someone to top?”

“Shut the fuck up, I’m being romantic!”

“Okay, I’m sorry, I love you!”

“I love you too, you wang! Now marry me!”

“Ok! I love you, Derek. I love you so fucking much! I can’t wait to marry you.”

They kiss in their living room, and soon they’ll get up, shower and get dishes ready to take over to Cora’s for the holiday.

But first…

Derek pulls the card from the Christmas basket and opens it up:

 

**_El día que me quieras, para nosotros dos_ **

**_cabrá en un solo beso la beatitud de Dios._ **

 

Derek blushes and maybe he even swoons a little, and Stiles is right with him. Stiles leans forward and kisses Derek softly on the lips.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

Then Stiles reaches into the Christmas basket, pulling something out. Derek can’t help but notice the way the morning sun reflects off of his band. He sighs, happier than he’s ever been as Stiles holds up the object in front of him.

“C’mon, let’s get some mini pinecones in some weird places.”

Derek smiles as he chases Stiles back to their bedroom and into their future.

**

_*Fin*_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! And thank you to 1989dreamer for your amazing art!!
> 
> Feel free to comment and kudos and be sure to check out the other entries in the collection!


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